Injectable Smart Hydrogels for Spinal Cord Regeneration

Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious condition that begins with immediate physical damage to the spinal cord and associated regions during an acute traumatic event. The damage of the tissue expands in both intensity and volume in the next subacute phase. At this stage, multiple events complicate the pathologic condition and herein lies the main cause of post-traumatic neural degeneration that ends with the so-called chronic phase. In recent times, different medical treatments addressing different neurodegenerative mechanisms have been proposed but have met with limited success when translated to clinical settings. The main reasons for this are that the pathogenesis of SCI is a continued multifactorial complaint and the treatment of only one factor is not sufficient to check neural degeneration and development of paralysis. Recent advances have led to the development of injectable hydrogels aiming to promote in situ delivery of cells and/or drugs to improve the medical outcome. This chapter aims to provide an overview of regenerative treatments with hydrogels that can be used to ameliorate the SCI condition.