Emerging Approaches for Regenerative Rehabilitation Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

The potential for rehabilitation to improve recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is limited by a lack of inherent regenerative capacity in the brain as well as the chronic disabilities and ongoing pathologies of various injury endophenotypes. A large body of previous work has shown that traditional rehabilitative therapies in combination with dietary modifications and regular exercise can enhance brain plasticity and, in some cases, neurogenesis, but prolonged secondary injury and limits to plasticity and regeneration significantly limit the impact of rehabilitation. Therefore, there is an urgent need for therapeutic strategies to promote regeneration and complement rehabilitation efforts to maximize recovery from TBI. In the following chapter, we discuss the unique translational challenges for developing TBI therapeutics, existing approaches to rehabilitation, promising therapeutic targets for enhancing regeneration and plasticity, and emerging regenerative medicine approaches that could significantly expand attainable levels of functional recovery following TBI.