Vascular Stabilization with Angiopoitin-1 Improves Outcome in Experimental Spinal Cord Injury

Juan Herrera¹, Laura M. Sundberg¹, Ponnada A. Narayana¹

The effect of angiopoitin-1 (Ang-1) and adeno-associated virus (AAV) engineered to express Ang-1 on experimental spinal cord injury (SCI) was investigated using longitudinal in vivo MRI, including dynamic contrast enhanced MRI, and neurobehavioral studies. In treated animals, on MRI, improvement in the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) integrity and reduced lesion volume were observed compared to the controls. A concomitant improvement in the neurobehavioral scores was observed in treated animals. These studies suggest that Ang-1 treatment is a promising therapeutic strategy in SCI.