Microvascular dysfunction after spinal cord injury

Acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a growing concern for clinical practice. The vast etiologies of SCI make this pathology difficult to diagnose in an effective and timely manner. Advances in technology and in our understanding of SCI have improved our ability to detect patients who have sustained an injury of this type; however, our knowledge is limited and these patients, in spite of intervention, are left with permanent disabilities. The predominant age group affected by SCI clusters around young productive males, which severely affects the financial, psychological, and social aspects of their lives. Our inability to treat SCI lies in the complex pathophysiology of this disease. This chapter aims at describing the hallmarks of microvasculature dysfunction after SCI, emphasizing the modifications suffered by the endothelial cells of the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB). An effort has also been made to address the therapeutic interventions directed towards these vascular mechanisms and the clinical implications of these processes.