title: Exercise after spinal cord injury as an agent for neuroprotection, regeneration and rehabilitation.
abstract: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a traumatic event from which there is limited recovery of function, despite the best efforts of many investigators to devise realistic therapeutic treatments. Partly this is due to the multifaceted nature of SCI, where there is considerable disarray and dysfunction secondary to the initial injury. Contributing to this secondary degeneration is neurotoxicity, vascular dysfunction, glial scarring, neuroinflammation, apoptosis and demyelination. It seems logical that addressing the need for neuroprotection, regeneration and rehabilitation will require different treatment strategies that may be applied at varied stages of the post-injury response. Here we focus on a single strategy, exercise/physical training, which appears to have multiple applications and benefits for an acute or chronic SCI. Exercise has been demonstrated to be advantageous at cellular and biochemical levels, as well as being of benefit for the whole animal or human subject. Data from our lab and others will be discussed to further elucidate the many positive aspects of implementing exercise following injury and to suggest that rehabilitation is not the sole target of a training regimen following SCI. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Spinal cord injury.
authors: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Spinal Cord Research Center, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, PA 19129, Philadelphia, United States.
authors: Harra R
authors: HR
authors: Sandrow-Feinberg
authors: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Spinal Cord Research Center, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, PA 19129, Philadelphia, United States. Electronic address: jhoule@drexelmed.edu.
authors: John D
authors: JD
authors: Houlé
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D000066829:Neuroprotection; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy; D058630:Spinal Cord Regeneration
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Exercise; Neurorehabilitation; Neurotrauma; Spinal cord injury