AIM Autophagy is an important process that balances cellular protein synthesis and degradation and is involved in many physiological and pathological conditions. However, the precise role of autophagy has not yet been defined in the model of spinal cord injury (SCI). MATERIAL AND METHODS Here, we utilized a hemisection model of acute SCI to elucidate the role of autophagy in the pathological ...

We have investigated the effects of ascending inhibitory pathways on two centrally generated rhythmic motor patterns in a simple vertebrate model, the young Xenopus tadpole. Tadpoles swim when touched, but when grasped respond with slower, stronger struggling movements during which the longitudinal pattern of motor activity is reversed. Surgical spinal cord transection to remove all ascending c...

The mechanisms by which chronic cervical spinal cord injury alters respiratory function and plasticity are not well understood. We speculated that spinal hemisection at C(2) would alter the respiratory pattern controlled by vagal mechanisms. Expired volume (V(E)) and respiratory rate (RR) were measured in anesthetized control and C(2)-hemisected rats at 1 and 2 mo postinjury. C(2) hemisection a...

Clinical evidence indicates that motor training facilitates functional recovery after a spinal cord injury (SCI). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a powerful synaptic facilitator and likely plays a key role in motor and sensory functions. Spinal cord hemisection decreases the levels of BDNF below the injury site, and exercise can counteract this decrease [Ying Z, Roy RR, Edgerton VR,...

Introduction: Apoptosis, characterized by the activation of caspases and DNA fragmentation, was once considered the sole form of programmed cell death. In contrast, necrosis was originally considered a nonspecific mode of cell death. To date, it has been considered that the secondary damage after spinal cord injury is caused by apoptosis. Most researches related to the cell death in the injured...

This short review summarizes experimental findings made after spinal cord injury, mainly in cats. After a complete spinal injury, cats re-express hindlimb locomotion after 2-3 weeks because of a spinal locomotor circuitry named the central pattern generator or CPG. To investigate whether such circuits are also implicated in the recovery of locomotion after partial spinal lesions, we have used a...

Background: Brown-Sequard syndrome (BSS) is a rare neurological condition resulting from a hemisection injury to or unilateral compression on the spinal cord. The most common causes of BSS that are amenable to be treated surgically can be divided into traumatic and non-traumatic injuries. Traumatic injuries are often reported as the main cause of BSS. However, non-traumatic injuries of the spin...

Descending propriospinal neurons (DPSN) are known to establish functional relays for supraspinal signals, and they display a greater growth response after injury than do the long projecting axons. However, their regenerative response is still deficient due to their failure to depart from growth supportive cellular transplants back into the host spinal cord, which contains numerous impediments t...