Stroke damages blood-spinal cord barrier, researchers find

Researchers investigating the short and long-term effects of ischemic stroke in a rodent model have found that stroke can cause long-term damage to the blood-spinal cord barrier, which provides a specialized protective ‘microenvironment’ for neural cells in the spinal cord, creating a ‘toxic environment’ in the spinal cord that might leave stroke survivors susceptible to motor dysfunction and disease pathology.