Traumatic injury to the brain and spinal cord (neurotrauma) is a common event across populations and often causes profound and irreversible disability. Pathophysiological responses to trauma exacerbate the damage of an index injury, propagating the loss of function that the central nervous system (CNS) cannot repair after the initial event is resolved. The way in which function is lost after injury is the consequence of a complex array of mechanisms that continue in the chronic phase post-injury to prevent effective neural repair. This review summarises the events after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI), comprising a description of current clinical management strategies, a summary of known cellular and molecular mechanisms of secondary damage and their role in the prevention of repair. A discussion of current and emerging approaches to promote neuroregeneration after CNS injury is presented. The barriers to promoting repair after neurotrauma are across pathways and cell types and occur on a molecular and system level. This presents a challenge to traditional molecular pharmacological approaches to targeting single molecular pathways. It is suggested that novel approaches targeting multiple mechanisms or using combinatorial therapies may yield the sought-after recovery for future patients.
Keywords: CNS; neuroprotection; neuroregeneration; neurotrauma; spinal cord injury; traumatic brain injury.