Researchers identify neural plastic alterations that enhance functional recovery after cervical spinal cord injury
Researchers identify neural plastic alterations that enhance functional recovery after cervical spinal cord injury Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine who investigate spinal cord and brain injuries are investigating novel ways to increase functional recovery after a spinal cord injury. Source In a recently published article in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, a team of researchers used laboratory models to investigate a unilateral spinal cord injury similar to Brown-Sequard Syndrome, a rare neurological condition characterized by weakness or paralysis on one side of the body and loss of sensation on the opposite side. Wei Wu, Ph.D., associate research professor of neurological surgery at IU School of Medicine, said that the spinal cord injury model severed the link between the left hemisphere of the brain and the right side of the body, resulting in a severe functional loss in the right forelimb. "The skilled function of upper limbs is very important fo...