# Biomaterial‐Based Emergency Intervention for Secondary Spinal Cord Injury

## TL;DR

This review explores how biomaterials can be used as emergency treatments to prevent further damage after spinal cord injuries by targeting key harmful processes.

## Contribution

The paper introduces advanced biomaterial-based strategies for emergency SCI treatment, focusing on inflammation inhibition and barrier restoration.

## Key findings

- Biomaterials can limit inflammation and excitotoxicity after spinal cord injury.
- They help restore the blood−spinal cord barrier and inhibit scar formation.
- These interventions offer significant neural protection and regeneration potential.

## Abstract

Timely therapeutic interventions for acute spinal cord injury (SCI) are critical for enhancing long‐term neurological and functional outcomes by limiting injury progression. However, current clinical strategies, such as methylprednisolone (MS) shock therapy and spinal decompression surgery, often yield suboptimal results. Moreover, MS administration is linked to severe systemic side effects, including pneumonia and gastrointestinal bleeding, while determining the optimal timing for decompression surgery remains challenging. Therefore, developing innovative therapeutic approaches is essential. Biomaterials, with their advanced drug delivery capabilities and unique biochemical properties, modulate cell behaviors and regulate the microenvironments of injured spinal cord, offering a promising treatment avenue for acute SCI. This review highlights the dynamic changes in SCI tissue during the initial phases and examines cutting‐edge biomaterial‐based emergency interventions, including the limitation of inflammation, reduction of excitotoxicity, restoration of the blood−spinal cord barrier, and inhibition of scar formation. Additionally, it addresses the challenges and opportunities of translating these innovations from basic research to clinical practice, thereby guiding future developments in clinically viable biomaterials.

Emergency intervention using advanced biomaterials targets key pathological mechanisms to block secondary spinal cord injury (SCI) by inhibiting inflammation, reducing excitotoxicity, restoring the blood−spinal cord barrier, and limiting scar formation, which provides significant neural protection and promotes neural regeneration, offering promising strategies for the treatment of acute SCI and valuable insights for future clinical translation.© 2025 WILEY‐VCH GmbH