Prospect for near-infrared light-assisted therapy for spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is very complex and causes complicated neurological disorders with serious socioeconomic implications. After SCI, some cells are seriously damaged and the lesion face physiological, anatomical, chemical, and immune system changes that hinder their attempts for recovering. Near-Infrared (NIR) light-assisted therapy for SCI treatment is quite limited, but the reported work has shown great promise to combat SCI, which particularly has more efficient anti-inflammation and tissue regeneration effects. To advance research on NIR adjuvant therapy for SCI, we summarized the reported strategies including the NIR light-assisted control-release system and NIR light-assisted photothermal therapy (NIR-PTT) to assist therapy of SCI. In addition, the prospect and challenges for widespread clinical implementation of NIR-assisted therapeutics are discussed.