Spinal cord injury is a very common pathological event that has devastating functional consequences in patients. In recent years, several research groups are trying to find an effective therapy that could be applied in clinical practice. In this study, we analyzed the combination of different strategies as a potential therapy for spinal cord injury. Immunization with neural derived peptides (INDP), inhibition of glial scar formation (dipyridyl: DPY), as well as the use of biocompatible matrix (fibrin glue: FG) impregnated with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were combined and then its beneficial effects were evaluated in the induction of neuroprotection and neuroregeneration after acute SCI. Sprague-Dawley female rats were subjected to a moderate spinal cord injury and then randomly allocated into five groups: 1) phosphate buffered saline; 2) DPY; 3) INDP + DPY; 4) DPY+ FG; 5) INDP + DPY + FG + MSCs. In all rats, intervention was performed 72 hours after spinal cord injury. Locomotor and sensibility recovery was assessed in all rats. At 60 days after treatment, histological examinations of the spinal cord (hematoxylin-eosin and Bielschowsky staining) were performed. Our results showed that the combination therapy (DPY+ INDP + FG + MSCs) was the best strategy to promote motor and sensibility recovery. In addition, significant increases in tissue preservation and axonal density were observed in the combination therapy group. Findings from this study suggest that the combination theapy (DPY+ INDP + FG + MSCs) exhibits potential effects on the protection and regeneration of neural tissue after acute spinal cord injury. All procedures were approved by the Animal Bioethics and Welfare Committee (approval No. 178544; CSNBTBIBAJ 090812960) on August 15, 2016.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a harmful event that involves several repercussions on sensory and motor function that affects the quality of life (QoL) of patients. After SCI, many damage mechanisms are activated that impact on both autonomous extrinsic and intrinsic innervation toward the gut, and these changes modify the gut motility causing bowel dysfunction (BD), an entity that affects 40% of patients with SCI, being the second comorbidity after loss of mobility with no recognized cure. The severity of complications is ruled by the level and severity of injury, having a worse prognosis with an injury that is the most proximal to the brain. In the last 5 years, some experiments have tried to elucidate the consequences of dysbiosis in the gut and aggregated proinflammatory processes. The goal of this chapter is to establish the importance of bacterial composition and immune system repercussions in bowel dysfunction after SCI and how could it give rise to new therapies.