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Current Neuropharmacology

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1570-159X
ISSN (Online): 1875-6190

Systematic Review Article

The Role of Astrogliosis in Formation of the Syrinx in Spinal Cord Injury

Author(s): Jacek M. Kwiecien*, Wojciech Dąbrowski, Jordan R Yaron, Liqiang Zhang, Kathleen H. Delaney and Alexandra R. Lucas

Volume 19, Issue 2, 2021

Published on: 20 July, 2020

Page: [294 - 303] Pages: 10

DOI: 10.2174/1570159X18666200720225222

Price: $65

Abstract

A massive localized trauma to the spinal cord results in complex pathologic events driven by necrosis and vascular damage which in turn leads to hemorrhage and edema. Severe, destructive and very protracted inflammatory response is characterized by infiltration by phagocytic macrophages of a site of injury which is converted into a cavity of injury (COI) surrounded by astroglial reaction mounted by the spinal cord. The tissue response to the spinal cord injury (SCI) has been poorly understood but the final outcome appears to be a mature syrinx filled with the cerebrospinal fluid with related neural tissue loss and permanent neurologic deficits. This paper reviews known pathologic mechanisms involved in the formation of the COI after SCI and discusses the integrative role of reactive astrogliosis in mechanisms involved in the removal of edema after the injury. A large proportion of edema fluid originating from the trauma and then from vasogenic edema related to persistent severe inflammation, may be moved into the COI in an active process involving astrogliosis and specifically over-expressed aquaporins.

Keywords: Spinal cord injury, inflammation, cavity of injury, astrogliosis, aquaporins, edema, syrinx.

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