School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Hunter Medical Research Institute, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
Neuropharmacology. 2011 Apr;60(5):809-22. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2011.01.016. Epub 2011 Jan 18.
Over one hundred years ago, Sir Charles Sherrington described a population of spinal cord interneurons (INs) that connect multiple spinal cord segments and participate in complex or 'long' motor reflexes. These neurons were subsequently termed propriospinal neurons (PNs) and are known to play a crucial role in motor control and sensory processing. Recent work has shown that PNs may also be an important substrate for recovery from spinal cord injury (SCI) as they contribute to plastic reorganisation of spinal circuits. The location, inter-segmental projection pattern and sheer number of PNs mean that after SCI, a significant number of them are capable of 'bridging' an incomplete spinal cord lesion. When these properties are combined with the capacity of PNs to activate and coordinate locomotor central pattern generators (CPGs), it is clear they are ideally placed to assist locomotor recovery. Here we summarise the anatomy, organisation and function of PNs in the uninjured spinal cord, briefly outline the pathophysiology of SCI, describe how PNs contribute to recovery of motor function, and finally, we discuss the mechanisms that underlie PN plasticity. We propose there are two major challenges for PN research. The first is to learn more about ways we can promote PN plasticity and manipulate the 'hostile' micro-environment that limits regeneration in the damaged spinal cord. The second is to study the cellular/intrinsic properties of PNs to better understand their function in both the normal and injured spinal cord. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Synaptic Plasticity & Interneurons'.
一百多年前，查尔斯·谢灵顿爵士描述了一群脊髓中间神经元（INs），它们连接多个脊髓节段，并参与复杂或“长”的运动反射。这些神经元随后被称为 propriospinal 神经元（PNs），已知在运动控制和感觉处理中发挥着关键作用。最近的研究表明，PNs 也可能是脊髓损伤（SCI）恢复的重要基质，因为它们有助于脊髓回路的可塑性重组。PNs 的位置、节段间投射模式和数量之多意味着在 SCI 后，它们中有相当数量的神经元能够“桥接”不完全的脊髓损伤。当这些特性与 PNs 激活和协调运动中枢模式发生器（CPGs）的能力相结合时，很明显，它们是协助运动恢复的理想选择。在这里，我们总结了未受伤脊髓中 PNs 的解剖、组织和功能，简要概述了 SCI 的病理生理学，描述了 PNs 如何有助于运动功能的恢复，最后讨论了 PNs 可塑性的基础机制。我们提出了 PNs 研究的两个主要挑战。第一个是更多地了解如何促进 PNs 可塑性，并操纵限制损伤脊髓中再生的“敌对”微环境。第二个是研究 PNs 的细胞/内在特性，以更好地了解它们在正常和损伤脊髓中的功能。本文是题为“突触可塑性与中间神经元”的特刊的一部分。
