Experimentalcell transplantation for traumatic spinal cord injury regeneration: Intramedullar or intrathecal administration

Abstract

Animal experimentation models are a necessary prerequisite to human trials for the use of regenerative medicine in the treatment of spinal cord injuries. Considerable effort is required for the generation of a consistent and reproducible methodology to incur an injury and evaluate the results. The traumatic contusion model has been accepted as a model that closely mimics a typical human traumatic injury, and here we detail step by step an approach to generate a reproducible lesion in rats. Acute cell transplantation by intramedul-lar or intrathecal administration is described for regenerative interventions. The same model is suitable to design subacute or chronic therapeutic approaches by interventions 1 week or 1 month after lesion.