Nanomedicine strategies for treatment of secondary spinal cord injury

Abstract

Neurological injury, such as spinal cord injury, has a secondary injury associated with it. The secondary injury results from the biological cascade after the primary injury and affects previous uninjured, healthy tissue. Therefore, the mitigation of such a cascade would benefit patients suffering a primary injury and allow the body to recover more quickly. Unfortunately, the delivery of effective therapeutics is quite limited. Due to the inefficient delivery of therapeutic drugs, nanoparticles have become a major field of exploration for medical applications. Based on their material properties, they can help treat disease by delivering drugs to specific tissues, enhancing detection methods, or a mixture of both. Incorporating nanomedicine into the treatment of neuronal injury and disease would likely push nanomedicine into a new light. This review highlights the various pathological issues involved in secondary spinal cord injury, current treatment options, and the improvements that could be made using a nanomedical approach.