Intravenous Transplantation of Mesenchymal Progenitors Distribute Solely to the Lungs and Improve Outcomes in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury.

Cellular transplantation strategies utilizing intraspinal injection of mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) have been reported as beneficial for spinal cord injuries. However, intraspinal injection is not only technically challenging, but requires invasive surgical procedures for patients. Therefore, we investigated the feasibility and potential benefits of noninvasive intravenous injection of MPCs in two models of cervical spinal cord injury, unilateral C5 contusion and complete unilateral C5 hemisection.