Bone marrow stromal stem cells transplantation in mice with acute spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injured experimental animals are widely used for studying pathophysiological processes after central nervous system acute traumatic lesion and elaborating therapeutic solutions, some of them based on stem cell transplantation. Here, we describe a protocol of spinal cord contusion in C57BL/6J mice, directly followed by bone marrow stromal stem cells transplantation. This model allows for the characterization of neuroprotective and neurorestorative abilities of these stem cells in a context of spinal cord trauma.