Spinal cord tissue engineering

IntroductionSpinal cord injury (SCI) represents one of the most complicated and heterogeneous pathological processes of central nervous system (CNS) impairments. Fortunately, recent advances in neuroscience, cell culture, and biomaterials provide optimistic future using new treatments for nerve injuries. Tissue engineering approaches to spinal cord injury (SCI) treatment are attractive because they allow for manipulation of native regeneration processes involved in restoration of the integrity and function of damaged tissue.ObjectivesIn this review, we will focus on some of the recent knowledge about biomaterials and attempt to emphasize combinational strategies such as tissue engineering for functional improvement of SCI.MethodsA series of clinical trials were performed. These experiments showed that the grafting of such cells is safe and brings benefits for some patients by using different cell application methods and transplantation procedures.ResultSeveral hypotheses have been proposed to explain spinal cord regeneration. Combinational strategies such as tissue engineering for functional improvement of SCI is one of the most promising hypotheses, which includes several possible mechanisms, such as preclinical experiments in SCI animal model showing mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation, the role of biodegradable engineered scaffolds seeded with Schwann cells, injectable hydrogel materials and bone marrow for the treatment of spinal cord injury.ConclusionMore intensive studies are required for the investigation of the activities of cells after combined with biomaterials to offer insights into the design and development of nerve tissue-engineering scaffold for spinal cord regeneration

Keywords:

Spinal cord injury , Tissue engineering , Biomaterial , Scaffolds , Schwann cell