Edited by
F.J. Seil, Office of Regeneration Research Programs, VA Medical Center and Departments of Neurology and Cell and Developmental Biology, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR 97201, USA
Description
While a cure for spinal cord injury remains elusive, the contents of this volume convey a sense of progress towards this goal. More has
been learned about the primary and secondary consequences of spinal cord injury and more is being understood about recovery mechanisms
that are intrinsic to the nervous system and that might be further encouraged. Expanding the control capacity of uninjured portions
of the nervous system may be one approach to improving the functional capabilities of those afflicted with this disorder. New therapies
in the form of transplantable cells that can encourage growth or myelination or prevent secondary damage or that can substitute for injured
cells appear promising for future applications. Genetic and tissue engineering studies give us further hope, and under continuous development
are novel drugs with greater specificity and fewer detrimental effects and improved delivery methods for such drugs.
The volume
is organized into six topic sections, including I) Strategies for Spinal Cord Injury Repair, II) Plasticity of the Injured Spinal Cord:
Retraining Neural Circuits to Promote Motor Recovery, III) Impact of Neuroprosthetic Applications on Functional Recovery, IV) Neurotrophins
and Activity-Dependent Plasticity, V) Candidate Cells for Transplantation into the Injured CNS and VI) New Directions in Regeneration
Research. Both clinical and experimental animal studies are presented in the first three sections, while predominantly basic research
is the focus of the second half of the book.
Included in series
Progress in Brain Research
