Book excerpt: Distinguished researchers review the latest scientific understanding of spinal cord injury (SCI), focusing on the mechanisms causing paralysis after spinal cord trauma, the molecular determinants of neural regeneration, and methods for improving damaged function. The authors examine the role of intracellular Ca2+ in neuronal death, the possibility of spinal learning, growth-promoting molecules for regenerating neurons, and the biochemistry and cell biology of microtubules. Among the treatment possibilities discussed are cell transplantation strategies beyond the use of fetal spinal cord tissue, remyelination in spinal cord demyelination models, high steroid therapy immediately after SCI, and the mixed use of anti- and proinflammatories. Comprehensive and highly promising, Neurobiology of Spinal Cord Injury summarizes and integrates the great progress that has been made in understanding and combating the paralysis that follows spinal cord injury.