Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026
Development of Combinatorial Therapeutics for Spinal Cord Injury using Stem Cell Delivery
Published on: June 7, 2024
Effects of decellularized biological scaffolds on motor function recovery following spinal cord injury: A systematic
Mohammad Mahdi Khodaei1, Zahra Behroozi2, Alireza Haraj3
1Men's Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Student Research Committee, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Objective:
This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of decellularized scaffolds (DCS) in improving motor function recovery in animal models of spinal cord injury (SCI).
Methods:
A comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted on 26 individual studies investigating DCS alone and 13 studies investigating DCS combined with cells. The standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to assess the overall effect size. Subgroup analyses were performed to investigate sources of heterogeneity and the impact of variables such as gender, SCI model, scaffold source, implantation time, and follow-up duration.
Results:
The overall analysis revealed that implantation of DCS alone had a significant and large effect on motor function recovery compared to untreated controls (SMD = 2.6; 95% CI = 1.88-3.31; P < 0.0001). Subgroup analysis showed scaffolds derived from spinal cord tissue were significantly more effective (SMD=2.78, p < 0.0001) than those from other sources. Crucially, immediate implantation (within 30 min post-injury) yielded a strong significant effect (SMD=2.54, p < 0.0001), while a 24-hour delay abolished the significant benefit (SMD=0.903, p = 0.38). The effect was sustained over short (≤4 weeks), medium (4-8 weeks), and long-term (8 weeks) follow-ups. The combination of DCS with cell therapy showed a larger overall effect (SMD = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.21-2.79; P < 0.0001) compared with DCS alone.
Conclusion:
The implantation of DCS is a highly effective intervention for promoting motor recovery after SCI in animal models, especially when derived from spinal cord tissue and implanted immediately after injury.
