Laboratory of Neural Injury and Repair, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health and State University of New York, Albany, New York 12201-0509, USA.
J Neurophysiol. 2012 Nov;108(10):2668-78. doi: 10.1152/jn.00516.2012. Epub 2012 Aug 29.
The cortex gradually modifies the spinal cord during development, throughout later life, and in response to trauma or disease. The mechanisms of this essential function are not well understood. In this study, weak electrical stimulation of rat sensorimotor cortex increased the soleus H-reflex, increased the numbers and sizes of GABAergic spinal interneurons and GABAergic terminals on soleus motoneurons, and decreased GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptor labeling in these motoneurons. Several months after the stimulation ended the interneuron and terminal increases had disappeared, but the H-reflex increase and the receptor decreases remained. The changes in GABAergic terminals and GABA(B) receptors accurately predicted the changes in H-reflex size. The results reveal a new long-term dimension to cortical-spinal interactions and raise new therapeutic possibilities.
大脑皮层在发育过程中、整个生命后期以及对创伤或疾病的反应中逐渐调节脊髓。这一重要功能的机制尚不清楚。在这项研究中，对大鼠感觉运动皮层进行弱电刺激会增加比目鱼肌 H 反射，增加 GABA 能脊髓中间神经元的数量和大小，以及减少这些运动神经元上 GABA(A)和 GABA(B)受体的标记。刺激结束后数月，中间神经元和终末的增加已经消失，但 H 反射的增加和受体的减少仍然存在。GABA 能末梢和 GABA(B)受体的变化准确地预测了 H 反射幅度的变化。研究结果揭示了皮质-脊髓相互作用的一个新的长期维度，并提出了新的治疗可能性。
