Enzymatic Manipulation of the Site of Spinal Cord Injury Allows Better Survival and Adhesion of Allogeneic Homotopic Fetal Transplants in Adult Rats

Spinal cord (SC) contusion in rats yields an experimental model of SC trauma in humans. This model has often been criticized for its lack of reproducibility. Both histological observations and functional recovery cannot be reproduced consistently. The recent demonstration that homotopic fetal transplants in newborn and adult SC can improve locomotion, discloses the ability of fetal neural tissue to partially restore SC function (Kunkel-Badgen, 1990; Stokes and Reier, 1992). A necrotic area at the site of the lesion is formed in the first days after SC contusion. In the later post-traumatic stages this area evolves into a cavitation. Host-graft integration of tissues transplanted into the lesioned area at any stage post-lesion will be diminished or prevented in acute stages after trauma by necrotic tissue and in subacute and chronic stages post-injury by cellular and scarring tissue (Reier, 1988).