Spinal Cord Injury

SCI Research

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a major cause of death and long-term paralysis with few treatment options. Our current research focuses on exploring pathological mechanisms of SCI, monitoring and tracking neurological injuries, and developing novel therapeutic methods such as autophagy modulating agents and targeted temperature management to promote neuroregeneration and neuroprotection.

Our lab personnel have extensive clinical experience in neurosurgery and evaluating functional recovery following neurological trauma using rat SCI models, locomotion analysis, and electrophysiology testing. Our recent work revealed the significant role of the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) in diabetic animals suffering from SCI, and discovered that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress significantly impacts BSCB integrity.

Publications

  • *Corresponding author

    1. Jia X*, Kowalski RG, Sciubba DM, Geocadin RG. Critical Care of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. J Intensive Care Med. 2013 Jan-Feb;28(1):12-23. doi: 10.1177/0885066611403270. Epub 2011 Apr 11. PMID: 21482574

    2. Zhou K, Sansur CA, Xu H, Jia X*. The temporal pattern, flux, and function of autophagy in spinal cord injury. Int J Mol Sci. 2017 Feb 21;18(2). pii: E466. PMID

    3. He #, Zhou S#, Yin J, Gao Z, Liu Y, Wu Y, He H, Zhou Y, Wang Q, Li J, Wu F, Xu HZ, Jia X*, Xiao J*. Inhibition of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Preserves the Integrity of Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier in Diabetic Rats Subjected to Spinal Cord Injury. Scientific Reports. 2017;7(1):7661. PMID