© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 121
J. Wilson-Rawls, K. Kusumi (eds.), Innovations in Molecular Mechanisms
and Tissue Engineering, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-44996-8_7
Chapter 7
Regenerative Strategies for the Central
Nervous System
Adam Roussas , Briana I. Martinez , Caroline P. Addington ,
and Sarah E. Stabenfeldt
7.1 Injury in the Central Nervous System: Physiology
and Barriers to Regeneration
The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord; CNS) consists of complex molecular
and cellular networks, which in turn renders the CNS sensitive to mechanical injury and
neurodegenerative disease. Several CNS ailments, including traumatic brain injury
(TBI), stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and spinal cord injury (SCI) are
increasing in prevalence in several countries, highlighting the need to delineate their
pathophysiology [ 1 – 3 ]. In both the spine and brain, both degenerative and contusive
injuries result in devastating, life changing results for patients such as partial or complete
paralysis, neuropathic pain, and death [ 4 ]. SCI pathology is defi ned as the partial or
complete paralysis and/or loss of sensation below the injury site, and TBI as perturba-
tions in the brain that induce functional or cognitive disabilities. It is estimated that CNS
injury impacts the lives of nearly six million people world-wide [ 5 ], with 276,000 of
those individuals residing in the US [ 6 ]. Stroke and TBI patients also face great fi nancial
burden, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, contributing to a total annual
cost ranging from $30 to over $60 billion across the United States [ 7 ]. Further, patients
expressing these pathologies report signifi cantly lower quality of life, due in part to
physical limitations and pain [ 8 ]. Although signifi cant progress has been made in the
pursuit of clinical methods to ameliorate injury progression, no viable technique to fully,
or even partially, restore brain or spinal cord function after injury has emerged.
A. Roussas • B. I. Martinez • C. P. Addington • S. E. Stabenfeldt (*)
School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering , Arizona State University ,
Tempe , AZ 85287 , USA
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; sarah.
[email protected]
- Author contributed equally with all other contributors.