Angiopoietin-1 Improves Outcome in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI, Neurobehavioral & Biochemical Studies

Juan Jose Herrera¹, Ponnada A. Narayana¹

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in the disruption of the blood spinal cord barrier (BSCB) allowing blood-borne molecules and cells to enter into the injured parenchyma triggering secondary damage beyond the site of original injury. Our study demonstrated that promoting stabilization of the BSCB through the acute intraspinal administration of angiopoietin-1, a vascular stabilizing protein, reduced vascular permeability leading to improved functional recovery. We examined the temporal change of BSCB permeability using dynamic contrast enhance MRI and in parallel performing neurobehavioral assays.