Animals were reanesthetized as described earlier, and the laminectomy site was re-exposed. Sham group animals were injected 24 hr after laminectomy with 9 µl of normal saline by utilizing a10 µl Hamilton syringe (Sigma). The hUCBSCs-treated group was injected 24 hr after injury. The mononuclear cell layer of hUCBSC (3 × 105 ells/µL) in 9 µl of normal saline at a rate of 0.25 µl/min was transplanted into the three sites of lesion area (epicenter, distal, and proximal) at a depth of 1.2 mm. The hUCBSCs were previously labeled with BrdU so as to facilitate the identification of the cells within the subsequent histological specimens. Cyclosporine A (10 mg/kg; (Sigma) was administered as an immunosuppressant for 7 days after transplantation of hUCBSCs (Dasari et al., 2007).