title: Plasticity of the spinal neural circuitry after injury.
abstract: Motor function is severely disrupted following spinal cord injury (SCI). The spinal circuitry, however, exhibits a great degree of automaticity and plasticity after an injury. Automaticity implies that the spinal circuits have some capacity to perform complex motor tasks following the disruption of supraspinal input, and evidence for plasticity suggests that biochemical changes at the cellular level in the spinal cord can be induced in an activity-dependent manner that correlates with sensorimotor recovery. These characteristics should be strongly considered as advantageous in developing therapeutic strategies to assist in the recovery of locomotor function following SCI. Rehabilitative efforts combining locomotor training pharmacological means and/or spinal cord electrical stimulation paradigms will most likely result in more effective methods of recovery than using only one intervention.
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. vre@ucla.edu
authors.forename: V Reggie
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Edgerton
authors.forename: Niranjala J K
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Tillakaratne
authors.forename: Allison J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bigbee
authors.forename: Ray D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: de Leon
authors.forename: Roland R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Roy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000639:trends; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation