Stem cell transplantation (SCT), sometimes referred to as bone marrow transplant, is a procedure in which a patient receives healthy stem cells to replace damaged stem cells.

Before SCT, the patient receives high doses of chemotherapy, and sometimes radiation therapy, to prepare the body for transplantation. This is called "conditioning treatment." After the stem cells are infused into the patient’s bloodstream, they travel to the bone marrow and begin the process of forming new, healthy blood cells including white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. This process is called “engraftment.”

The functional deficit caused by Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is clinically incurable and current treatments have limited effects. Previous studies have suggested that cell-based therapy using Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) pre-treated with drugs or gene transfection have possible therapeutic effects. Hypoxic preconditioning is one of the most likely treatments of cell-based therapy without altering genes; however, few reports are available about Hypoxia-Preconditioned MSCs (H-MSC) transplantation for SCI.