Chapter 14 - Spinal Cord Injury: experimental animal models and relation to human therapy

Abstract

The majority of spinal cord injury (SCI) events occur in the 18–35 year age group and the long-term personal, social and economic costs are enormous. Increasing use is being made of experimental animal models of SCI. The aims are to better understand the acute and chronic morphological, cellular and molecular consequences of SCI, and with this information develop and test new therapies to enhance anatomical repair and functional recovery. The ultimate aim is improved treatment and rehabilitation of patients suffering SCI. As the goal for clinical therapies becomes increasingly reachable, associating these often broad behavioral outcomes with experimental strategies aimed at tissue repair/sparing, remyelination, neuronal protection, cellular replacement, and axonal regeneration, as well as the activation of endogenous host stem/progenitor cell responses, has become more crucial but also more complex. There are many differences between the nervous systems of humans and animals commonly used in SCI studies. Issues such as size, gait, neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and behavioral differences as well as disparities in immunological and inflammatory responses following SCI, all point to potential limitations of animal models when assessing the efficacy and safety of possible SCI treatments in humans. Use of non-human primates as an intermediate step between rodents and humans may aid in translation of effective therapies to the clinic.