Understanding the importance of electrical stimulation in spinal cord injury repair

The field of tissue engineering (TE) has been particularly interested in harnessing the inherent bodys ability to regenerate via adult stem cells (SC).One attractive solution to promote in vivo SC is the use of electrical stimulation (ES), which was shown to promote SC proliferation and differentiation into neural cells, and enhance axonal regeneration [3-5]. In parallel, ES has been also shown to promote pro-regenerative, anti-inflammatory environments, by targeting glial cells [6-7].

Thus, it is expected that ES can be a suitable treatment for patients after SCI, promoting axonal regeneration while decreasing chronic cell death. However, the optimal ES paradigm is still to be determined. This multidisciplinary PhD project will give insights into the normal repair mechanism of the spinal cord, as well as evaluate the use of exogenous ES in spinal cord injury repair and how different ES paradigms could benefit patients.