Recent advances in regenerative medicine approaches for spinal cord injuries

Traumatic injury to the spinal cord leads to a loss of motor and sensory function below the level of injury. The lack of growth-associated proteins, local expression of inhibitory factors, and scar and cyst formation create an inhibitory environment in the spinal cord, which limits the regenerative capacity of endogenous or transplanted cells. Cell and drug delivery strategies, either alone or in combination, can induce changes in the local microenvironment at and around the lesion site to promote transplanted cell survival, integration, and/or endogenous repair. New biomaterial strategies also provide a platform for sustained delivery of otherwise unstable drugs.