Also, given the enormous current worldwide interest in the inflammatory response to spinal cord injury, it is reasonable to conclude that promising experimental neuroprotective interventions will be forthcoming within the near future. If such strategies are to be moved from the animal models within the laboratory setting and into human patients, it would be extremely useful to characterize the inflammatory response in humans and compare it to available animal data. Such knowledge would not only be helpful in predicting which experimental therapies would be beneficial, but also would be helpful in the definition of parameters for monitoring the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. In this regard, changes in cytokines/chemokines may become an additional outcome measure for the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy. Moreover, insights gained here may direct laboratory (animal) studies towards clinically relevant parameters.