Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Chicago, Illinois, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, 60611, and Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, 60141.
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Chicago, Illinois, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, 60611, and Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, 60141
J Neurosci. 2020 Nov 11;40(46):8831-8841. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1107-20.2020. Epub 2020 Sep 3.
Humans with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) often recover voluntary control of elbow flexors and, to a much lesser extent, elbow extensor muscles. The neural mechanisms underlying this asymmetrical recovery remain unknown. Anatomical and physiological evidence in animals and humans indicates that corticospinal and reticulospinal pathways differentially control elbow flexor and extensor motoneurons; therefore, it is possible that reorganization in these pathways contributes to the asymmetrical recovery of elbow muscles after SCI. To test this hypothesis, we examined motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation over the arm representation of the primary motor cortex, maximal voluntary contractions, the StartReact response (a shortening in reaction time evoked by a startling stimulus), and the effect of an acoustic startle cue on MEPs elicited by cervicomedullary stimulation (CMEPs) on biceps and triceps brachii in males and females with and without chronic cervical incomplete SCI. We found that SCI participants showed similar MEPs and maximal voluntary contractions in biceps but smaller responses in triceps compared with controls, suggesting reduced corticospinal inputs to elbow extensors. The StartReact and CMEP facilitation was larger in biceps but similar to controls in triceps, suggesting enhanced reticulospinal inputs to elbow flexors. These findings support the hypothesis that the recovery of biceps after cervical SCI results, at least in part, from increased reticulospinal inputs and that the lack of these extra inputs combined with the loss of corticospinal drive contribute to the pronounced weakness found in triceps. Although a number of individuals with cervical incomplete spinal cord injury show limited functional recovery of elbow extensors compared with elbow flexor muscles, to date, the neural mechanisms underlying this asymmetrical recovery remain unknown. Here, we provide for the first time evidence for increased reticulospinal inputs to biceps but not triceps brachii and loss of corticospinal drive to triceps brachii in humans with tetraplegia. We propose that this reorganization in descending control contributes to the asymmetrical recovery between elbow flexor and extensor muscles after cervical spinal cord injury.
患有颈脊髓损伤 (SCI) 的人通常会恢复对肘部屈肌的自主控制,而对肘部伸肌的控制则要小得多。这种不对称恢复的神经机制尚不清楚。动物和人类的解剖学和生理学证据表明,皮质脊髓和网状脊髓通路对肘部屈肌和伸肌运动神经元有不同的控制作用;因此,这些通路的重组可能有助于 SCI 后肘部肌肉的不对称恢复。为了验证这一假设,我们检查了经颅磁刺激(TMS)刺激初级运动皮层手臂代表区诱发的运动诱发电位(MEPs)、最大自主收缩、起始反应(由惊吓刺激引起的反应时间缩短)以及起始反应对颈髓刺激(CMEPs)诱发的肱二头肌和肱三头肌 MEPs 的影响,在有无慢性颈不完全 SCI 的男性和女性参与者中。我们发现,与对照组相比,SCI 参与者的肱二头肌 MEPs 和最大自主收缩相似,但肱三头肌的反应较小,这表明肘部伸肌的皮质脊髓传入减少。起始反应和 CMEP 易化在肱二头肌中更大,但与对照组相似在肱三头肌中,这表明肘部屈肌的网状脊髓传入增加。这些发现支持这样一种假设,即颈 SCI 后肱二头肌的恢复至少部分是由于网状脊髓传入的增加,而缺乏这些额外的传入以及皮质脊髓驱动的丧失导致了肱三头肌明显的无力。尽管许多颈不完全脊髓损伤的患者与肘部伸肌相比,肘部屈肌的功能恢复有限,但迄今为止,这种不对称恢复的神经机制仍不清楚。在这里,我们首次提供证据表明,四肢瘫痪患者的肱二头肌网状脊髓传入增加,但肱三头肌没有,并且肱三头肌的皮质脊髓驱动丧失。我们提出,这种下行控制的重组有助于颈脊髓损伤后肘部屈肌和伸肌之间的不对称恢复。