Acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) is a potent neurotrophic factor for neuronal survival of the injured spinal cord.However,the pathological change of spinal cord injury (SCI) and the attribution of aFGF to neuroprotective effect in SCI are still elusive.In this study,we have demonstrated that the SCI rat treated with aFGF showed significant functional recovery as indicated in the Basso Beattie Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale and Combined Behavior Score (CBS) (P<0.01-0.001).Furthermore,proteomics and bioinformatics approaches have been adapted to investigate the change of global protein profile of the contusive spinal cord tissue either with or without aFGF treatment of the experimental rats at 24 h after surgery.