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Brain motor system function after chronic, complete spinal cord injury.

Steven C Cramer1, Lindsey Lastra, Michael G Lacourse

  • 1Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, UCI Medical Center, Orange, CA 92868-4280, USA. scramer@uci.edu

Brain : a Journal of Neurology
|October 26, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Brain function after spinal cord injury (SCI) shows preserved but altered motor system activity. Interventions must address these brain abnormalities for effective motor function recovery.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Motor Control
  • Spinal Cord Injury Research

Background:

  • Therapies for spinal cord injury (SCI) often assume intact brain motor control.
  • Understanding brain function post-SCI is crucial for developing effective rehabilitation strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate brain motor system function in individuals with chronic, complete SCI during attempted and imagined foot movements.
  • To evaluate the impact of SCI on brain activation patterns, modulation, and specific neural pathways.

Main Methods:

  • Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to compare brain activity in 12 patients with chronic complete SCI and 12 controls.
  • Participants performed attempted and imagined right foot movements at two force levels.
  • Analysis focused on activation volume, signal variance, specific brain region engagement, and task-dependent modulation.

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Main Results:

  • Patients with SCI exhibited reduced activation volumes (e.g., 4-8% of controls) in the primary sensorimotor cortex, with increased signal variance.
  • Abnormal patterns included heightened pallido-thalamocortical loop activity during attempted movement and altered primary sensorimotor cortex processing during imagined movement.
  • Task and force-level modulations observed in controls were largely absent in SCI patients, indicating impaired functional adaptability.

Conclusions:

  • While some brain motor functions persist after chronic complete SCI, significant derangements in activation, poor functional modulation, and pathological brain events are evident.
  • Future interventions aiming to restore motor function after SCI must consider and address these underlying brain functional abnormalities.