Spinal Cord Compression: Molecular, Cellular and Therapeutic Aspects

Dear Colleagues,

Spinal cord compression could result from both atraumatic and traumatic causes. Despite the protection from the spinal vertebra, occasionally, the spinal cord is faced with an assortment of compressive forces that are caused by blood clots, neoplastic growth, infections, ectopic bone growth, or the protrusion of intervertebral discs within the restricted area of the spinal epidural space and meninges. A more drastic compression force comes from falls, traffic accidents, sports injuries, etc. To date, the only available therapy has involved drastic surgery and the systematic use of drugs, and surgery was only aided by medical examinations rather than images. The molecular and cellular study of spinal cord compression would benefit from the identification of biomarkers, which could be used as a diagnostic indication and/or a drug target for new therapies.

Efforts have been made for the molecular and cellular phenotypes of some spinal cord compression injuries, for example, cervical spondylotic myelopathy. This is the most common cause of spinal cord dysfunction, and its etiologies includes the formation of osteophytes, disc herniation, degenerative disc disease, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, and pathology of ligamentum flavum. These eventually cause spinal cord compression. High-throughput methods, as well as structure-sensitive studies, have expanded our repertoire of potential biomarkers. This Special Issue of Biomedicines focuses on recent advances in the characterization of molecular and cellular events that are involved in spinal cord compression. These may provide valuable information for the diagnosis as well as treatment of the injury.

Dr. Meng-Jen Lee
Guest Editor

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• spinal cord compression
• neuroprotection
• axon regeneration
• targets
• oligodendrocytes
• macrophage
• extracellular vesicles
• phytomedicine
• stem cells