Tissue engineering for traumatic spinal cord injury: Research advances and clinical translation

Abstract

Traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) typically leads to persistent motor and sensory deficits. Interdisciplinary advances have supported preclinical research into tissue engineering approaches for TSCI repair, with the core objective of reconstructing damaged neural tissue and restoring both anatomical integrity and physiological neural function. Many published reviews provide only a descriptive categorization of biomaterials, without establishing a systematic design logic aligned with stepwise pathological shifts after TSCI. This review summarizes tissue engineering interventions for TSCI and develops a biomaterial design system tailored to distinct phases of pathological injury. It elucidates intrinsic connections among material structure, physicochemical properties, and in vivo biological performance. This work further examines appropriate animal model selection and practical hurdles that restrict the bench-to-clinic translation of preclinical therapeutic effects. Finally, it identifies key bottlenecks hindering clinical translation and provides theoretical ideas for the development of neural regenerative biomaterials and the translational research of TSCI repair.