Rethinking the Body in the Brain after Spinal Cord Injury

Journal of Clinical Medicine

Mariella Pazzaglia¹  Valentina Giuffrida¹  Giuseppe Forte¹  Anna Pecchinenda¹  Luigi De Gennaro¹  Erik Leemhuis¹  Maria Luisa De Martino¹  Anna Maria Giannini¹ 

[1] Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Rome, Italy;

关键词: spinal cord injury;    neural plasticity;    central nervous system;    face representation;    limb representation;    phantom limb;   

DOI  :  10.3390/jcm11020388

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are disruptive neurological events that severly affect the body leading to the interruption of sensorimotor and autonomic pathways. Recent research highlighted SCI-related alterations extend beyond than the expected network, involving most of the central nervous system and goes far beyond primary sensorimotor cortices. The present perspective offers an alternative, useful way to interpret conflicting findings by focusing on the deafferented and deefferented body as the central object of interest. After an introduction to the main processes involved in reorganization according to SCI, we will focus separately on the body regions of the head, upper limbs, and lower limbs in complete, incomplete, and deafferent SCI participants. On one hand, the imprinting of the body’s spatial organization is entrenched in the brain such that its representation likely lasts for the entire lifetime of patients, independent of the severity of the SCI. However, neural activity is extremely adaptable, even over short time scales, and is modulated by changing conditions or different compensative strategies. Therefore, a better understanding of both aspects is an invaluable clinical resource for rehabilitation and the successful use of modern robotic technologies.

【 授权许可】

Unknown