Table 3.

Criteria for evaluating spinal cord regeneration experiments (National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke Guidelines)

Key criteria to assess axonal regeneration after experimental SCI
1.	The experimental lesion must cause disconnection of nerve processes
2.	Processes of CNS neurons must bridge the level of injury
3.	The regenerated fibres must make Synaptic contacts
4.	The regenerated fibres must generate post-synaptic responses
5.	Functional responses must derive from regenerated connections