Honorary Editor: Yoshiaki Toyama, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan (MD, PhD, Professor) Editors: Hisatoshi Baba, Fukui University School of Medicine, Matsuoka, Fukui, Japan (MD, PhD, Professor) Shinsuke Katoh, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan (MD, PhD, Professor) Masaya, Nakamura, Tokyo, Japan (MD, PhD, Associate Professor) Hiroshi Ozawa, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan (MD, PhD, Associate Professor) Kenzo Uchida, University of Fukui, Matsuoka, Fukui, Japan (MD, PhD, Associate Professor).

From the reviews: "This is an excellent book covering the latest in the pathology, histology, animal models, and stem cell research regarding acute spinal cord damage. ... There is a good audience to neurologists, neurosurgeons, research fellows, and medical students working in SCI Research. I highly recommend this book to all interested audiences." (Joseph J. Grenier, Amazon.com, March, 2014)

• Part I. Pathologies of spinal cord injury.- 1. The mechanism behind functional recovery after the incomplete spinal cord injury.- 2. Microenvironment within the injured spinal cord focusing on IL-6.- 3. Autophagy in spinal cord injury: pathogenic roles and therapeutic implications.- 4. The role of the endoplasmic reticulum stress response in neural apoptosis of the injured spinal cord.- 5. Roles of microglia in spinal cord injury.- Part II Pathologies of chronic compressive spinal cord.- 6. Biomechanics of the spinal cord and the pia mater.- 7. Biomechanical analysis of compressive myelopathy: the influence of morthometry of the spinal cord.- 8. Morphologic change and glial response to unilateral spinal cord compression.- 9. Morphological changes in anterior horn cells, immunoreactivity to neurotrophic factors and neuronal cell death of spinal cord lesions in the spinal hyperostotic mouse (twy/twy) with chronic mechanical cord compression.- 10. In vivo tracing of neural tracts in tip-toe walking Yoshimura mice by diffusion tensor tractography.- 11. Microarray analysis of expression of cell death-associated genes in spinal cord cells with cyclic tensile strain.- 12. Spinal Kyphosis causes Demyelination and Neuronal Loss in the Spinal Cord.- Part III  Neuroprotection.- 13. Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor (G-CSF)-mediated neuroprotective therapy for spinal cord injury.- 14. Recombinant human hepatocyte growth factor promotes functional recovery after spinal cord injury.- 15. The proteoglycan-degrading enzymes promote functional recovery after spinal cord injury - Keratan sulfate and Chondroitin sulfate.- 16. Targeted retrograde gene delivery into the injured spinal cord using recombinant adenovirus vector carrying neurotrophic factor gene.- 17. Blockade of interleukin-6 effects on cytokines profiles and macrophage activation after spinal cord injury in mice.- 18. Oxidative stress as secondary injury mechanism after mechanical trauma in the spinal cord.-Part IV Transplantation.- 19. Regenerative medicine for spinal cord injury utilizing iPS cells.- 20. Transplantation of neural stem cells with valproate for spinal cord injury.- 21. The effects of mesenchymal stem cell transduced multineurotrophin to improve function following spinal cord injury.- 22. Axonal regeneration across an artificial scaffold combined with cell transplantation applied to the transected spinal cord.- 23. Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow in the injured spinal cord.- 24. Vascular regeneration therapies for spinal cord injury.- Part V Clinical Relevance.- 25. Stress distribution of the spinal cord and clinical relevance in cervical spondylotic myelopathy.- 26. Applications and limitations of pNF-H, a novel biomarker for spinal cord injury.- 27. Neuroprotective therapy using granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for acute spinal cord injury: a multi center prospective controlled clinical trial.- 28. Assessment of injured spinal cord using diffusion tensor tractography.- 29. Clinical significance of 3D-MRI/18F-FDG PET fusion imaging of patients with cervical compressive myelopathy.- 30. Visualization of electrophysiological activity in the spinal cord using magnetospinography.- 31. Spinal synaptic plasticity in chronic pain.- 32. Evaluation of pain with functional neuroimaging.