Exploring synergistic supraspinal and sensory effects on adaptive plasticity of the neuronal networks after spinal cord injury
Nuria Antolin, Roberto Leiras, Affan Kaysa Waafi, Anpan Han, Ole Kiehn, Carmelo Bellardita · FENS Forum 2024
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) leads to significant motor deficits, but is often incomplete with spared fibers across the lesion and intact sensory feedback reaching the spinal circuits. This study seeks to enhance the integration of residual supraspinal commands with spinal-level sensory input to improve motor function by inducing adaptive plasticity within the neuronal networks below the site of injury. To selectively increase the supraspinal locomotor drive, we targeted the cuneiform nucleus (CnF) using viral vector delivery of optogenetic activators in a thoracic incomplete SCI mouse model. Phys
ePoster · Neuroscience