Dementia, Depression, and Associated Brain Inflammatory Mechanisms after Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can lead to cognitive impairments and depression, affecting rehabilitation and quality of life. These changes are often overlooked clinically, but recent studies suggest a high risk of dementia in SCI patients. Clinical and experimental studies reveal complex brain responses following SCI, potentially due to neuroinflammation. Researchers are exploring therapeutic options to reduce brain neuroinflammation and improve cognitive and emotional outcomes after SCI. SCI can cause extensive long-term reorganization of the cerebral cortex and progressive reduction in grey matter volume in brain regions critical for emotional processing and attentional states. These widespread alterations may contribute to cognitive and mood disorders after SCI.

• 1
  SCI patients are at a significantly higher risk for developing dementia, with some studies suggesting they are 13 times more likely to develop cognitive impairments.
• 2
  Experimental models of SCI show that rodents develop cognitive and mood disabilities that parallel those seen in human patients.
• 3
  Isolated thoracic SCI in rats and mice causes widespread progressive chronic neuroinflammation, leading to neurodegeneration in key brain regions associated with cognitive dysfunction and depression.