Figure 1.

Complexity of cell types in the SCI microenvironment and injury impact. (A) Timeline of microenvironment pathological changes following SCI. A wave of inflammatory response is followed by decreased inflammation and long-term glial scar formation. Immediate therapeutic intervention into the post-traumatic inflammatory microenvironment is challenging regarding survival of grafted cells and the presence of complex cytokine regulators. Human clinical trials have shown transplantation of cell therapy as early as 10 days. (B) Diagram of the spinal column. Shown in increasing detail are the complexity of the SCI microenvironment, cell types involved, and functional impacts. Perturbations to vascular, neural circuitry and metabolism, and myelination functions are critical to survival and regeneration of neuronal circuits following SCI.