Selected changes in spinal cord morphology after T4 transection and olfactory ensheathing cell transplantation.

Spinal cord transection at T4 results in severe damage of the nervous tissue, with impairment of motor, sensory and autonomic functions. Transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) has the potential to improve these functions through a number of mechanisms, which include facilitation of regeneration and neuroprotection. For cardiovascular functions, we have previously shown that OECs reduce the duration of autonomic dysreflexia, without evidence of regeneration.

Local response to cold in rat tail after spinal cord transection.

Subjects with severe chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) are prone to hypothermia when they are exposed to relatively low environmental temperatures that are normally well tolerated by healthy individuals. This impaired thermoregulation is presumably due to disconnection of territories below the SCI from supraspinal thermoregulatory centers. However, it is not known how these territories respond to low temperatures.