Abstract: There was an early view that the injured neurons and axons in central neural system couldn't regenerate after injury. However, it was found by recent researches that the injured neurons and axons can recover in different degrees after spinal cord injury of adult animals. In proper environment, some injured axons of central nervous system can regenerate slightly and form functional synaptic connections with target cells. Based on that, application of neurotrophic factors and cellular transplant therapy might be developed to treat spinal cord injury in the future.

Key words: spinal cord injury, nerve regeneration, review