Substantial knowledge has been gained in the pathological findings following naturally occurring spinal cord injury (SCI) in dogs and cats. The molecular mechanisms involved in failure of neural regeneration within the central nervous system, potential therapeutics including cellular transplantation therapy, neural plasticity, and prognostic indicators of recovery from SCI have been studied. Th...

abstract   objective: to evaluate and review our experience with pediatric spinal injuries and factors affecting outcome, the authors conducted a retrospective clinical study of 43 cases (32 boys, 11 girls) of pediatric spine injuries treated during four years (january 1999 to december 2003).   methods: forty-three children with spinal injuries were studied retrospectively over four years and w...

This work examines whether microglia-conditioned medium (MCM) is beneficial in stressed spinal cord cells or tissues. MCM was separated into two fractions by 50 kDa molecular cut-off centrifugation. MCM not only promoted survival of neuronal and oligodendroglial cells but effectively reduced LPS stimulation in spinal cord cultures. We further utilized the NYU weight-drop device to induce contus...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of neurotrophin-secreting Schwann cell implants on the urinary bladder after spinal cord contusion. One hour after severe spinal cord contusion at the T8 to T11 level, carbon filaments containing nonsecreting Schwann cells, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-secreting Schwann cells, neurotrophin-3 (NT-3)-secreting Schwann cells, or S...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts both axonal pathways and segmental spinal cord circuity, resulting in permanent neurological deficits. Physical exercise is known to increase the expression of neurotrophins for improving the injured spinal cord. In the present study, we investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on locomotor function in relation with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF...

DIFFUSION TENSOR IMAGING OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM FOLLOWING AN INJURY TO THE SPINAL CORD AND CELL TRANSPLANT Michael B. Jirjis, B.S. Marquette University, 2013 The purpose of this dissertation research was to characterize the use of magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in understanding the changes that occur throughout the spinal cord and br...

introduction: spinal cord injury (sci) is one of the most serious clinical diseases, which not only affects the patient's physical and mental status, but its effects will be spread to family and community. after severe spinal cord injury, astrocytes of the central nervous system (cns) become reactive astrocytes, and play the main role of glial scar formation. the scar is a major obstacle t...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) triggers a multitude of pathophysiological events that are tightly regulated by the expression levels of specific genes. Recent studies suggest that changes in gene expression following neural injury can result from the dysregulation of microRNAs, short non-coding RNA molecules that repress the translation of target mRNA. To understand the mechanisms underlying gene alt...

background: spinal cord injury (sci) stimulates an inflammatory reaction that causes substantial secondary damage inside the injured spinal tissue. the purpose of this study was to determine the anti-inflammatory effects of epigallocatechin gallate (egcg) on traumatized spinal cord. methods: rats were randomly divided into four groups of 12 rats each as follow: sham-operated group, trauma group...