Regenerative medicine for spinal cord injury: focus on stem cells and biomaterials

Abstract

Introduction: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a dramatic medical pathology consequence of a trauma (primary injury). However, most of the post-traumatic degeneration of the tissue is caused by the socalled secondary injury, which is known to be a multifactorial process. This, indeed, includes a wide spectrum of events: blood-brain barrier dysfunction, local inflammation, neuronal death, demyelination and disconnection of nerve pathways. Areas covered: Cell therapy represents a promising cure to target diseases and disorders at the cellular level, by restoring cell population or using cells as carriers of therapeutic cargo. In particular, regenerative medicine with stem cells represents the most appealing category to be used, thanks to their peculiar features. Expert opinion: Many preclinical research studies demonstrated that cell treatment can improve animal sensory/motor functions and so demonstrated to be very promising for clinical trials. In particular, recent advances have led to the development of biomaterials aiming to promote in situ cell delivery. This review digs into this topic discussing the possibility of cell treatment to improve medical chances in SCI repair.

Biomaterials reinforced MSCs transplantation for spinal cord injury repair

“…Moreover, the nasty microenvironment in the lesion largely hinders the therapeutic functions of MSCs. With the development of biomaterials and regenerative medicine, their applications in the remedy of the injured spinal cord have exhibited much promising potential [22 , [88] , [89] , [90] . The biomaterials discussed here are materials that are employed for contacting and interacting with the biological components [91] , playing a pivotal role in the artificial manipulation of cellular biological activities for regenerative medicine [92] , [93] , [94] , [95] .…”

Biomaterial-Mediated Factor Delivery for Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

“…In recent decades, novel targeting approaches have been proposed to overcome these limitations, such as the use of biodegradable carriers [ 62 , 63 , 64 ]. Most recently, in SCI treatment, several preclinical studies were carried out on two extremely promising biomaterial categories: hydrogels (HGs) and nanoparticles (NPs) [ 65 , 66 , 67 ].…”

“…Some studies have dedicated a lot of attention to the specific types of molecules delivered from stem cells, such as human chemokine (C–C motif) ligand 2 chemokine (CCL2) secreted from human mesenchymal stem cells [ 104 ], the release of which from HGs can regulate macrophage recruitment and convert them to the neuroprotective phenotype M2, showing good improvements in motor performance in rodent SCI models [ 62 , 104 ]. Even if the strategy to load only factors and not cells is very interesting, the multitude of molecules released from cells cannot be easily simulated.…”

Biosensing surfaces and therapeutic biomaterials for the central nervous system in COVID-19

“…Also, the ECM-like scaffolding biomaterials, such as hydrogel-based scaffolds, can support stem cell transplants within the context of a planned neural regeneration in the spinal cord, thanks to which they contain immunomodulatory and regenerative factors allowing the cells within the spinal cord to communicate with each other successfully [146,147]. In addition to biomaterials, stem cells, growth factors, drugs, and exosomes can regenerate the injured spine [148]. However, neurorehabilitation through exercise training, electrical stimulation (ES), and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are necessary to re-establish functionally appropriate neural connections [149].…”