Spinal cord injury (SCI), second only to stroke, is the leading cause of paralysis. The ability to walk is often lost after SCI, reducing independence and quality of life. Restoration of walking is cited as a priority among persons with SCI of all degrees of severity, chronicity, or age at injury. As 70％ of SCIs are anatomically incomplete, some neural connections relaying information to and from the brain are spared. Even in severe SCI, clinically deemed motor complete, these residual descending pathways might participate in the recovery of motor function. Specifically, direct and indirect pathways originating from the motor cortex are crucial for planning, controlling, and executing voluntary movements. Studies performed by my team in rats (Brown and Martinez, 2018, 2021; Bonizzato and Martinez, 2021) and by others in humans (Smith et al., 2000; Thomas and Gorassini, 2005; Pulverenti et al., 2021) indicate that recovery of walking following incomplete SCI depends largely on activation, strengthening, and plasticity of these pathways. Directly engaging these spared connections through targeted cortical neurostimulation led to previously unseen acute alleviation of locomotor deficits and long-term improvement of voluntary control of movements in rats (Bonizzato and Martinez, 2021).

Marina Martinez

Département de Neurosciences,Groupe de recherche sur la Signalisation Neurale et la Circuiterie and Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur le Cerveau au service de l'Apprentissage,Universitéde Montréal;CIUSSS du Nord-de-l'?le-de-Montréal,Montréal,QC,Canada

中国神经再生研究（英文版）

[1]Marina Martinez-.Targeting the motor cortex to restore walking after incomplete spinal cord injury)[J].中国神经再生研究（英文版）,2022(07):1489-1490

SCIs,Bonizzato,Gorassini,Pulverenti,neurostimulation

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