Lentiviral Interleukin-10 Gene Therapy Preserves Fine Motor Circuitry and Function After a Cervical Spinal Cord Injury in Male and Female Mice.

In mammals, spinal cord injuries often result in muscle paralysis through the apoptosis of lower motor neurons and denervation of neuromuscular junctions. Previous research shows that the inflammatory response to a spinal cord injury can cause additional tissue damage after the initial trauma. To modulate this inflammatory response, we delivered lentiviral anti-inflammatory interleukin-10, via loading onto an implantable biomaterial scaffold, into a left-sided hemisection at the C5 vertebra in mice.