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Science 16 November 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5853, pp. 1150 - 1155
DOI: 10.1126/science.1147243
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Reports

Time-Dependent Central Compensatory Mechanisms of Finger Dexterity After Spinal Cord Injury

Yukio Nishimura,1,2* Hirotaka Onoe,2,3 Yosuke Morichika,1 Sergei Perfiliev,4 Hideo Tsukada,2,5 Tadashi Isa1,2,6{dagger}

Transection of the direct cortico-motoneuronal pathway at the mid-cervical segment of the spinal cord in the macaque monkey results in a transient impairment of finger movements. Finger dexterity recovers within a few months. Combined brain imaging and reversible pharmacological inactivation of motor cortical regions suggest that the recovery involves the bilateral primary motor cortex during the early recovery stage and more extensive regions of the contralesional primary motor cortex and bilateral premotor cortex during the late recovery stage. These changes in the activation pattern of frontal motor-related areas represent an adaptive strategy for functional compensation after spinal cord injury.

1 Department of Developmental Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.
2 Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan.
3 Functional Probe Research Laboratory, Molecular Imaging Research Program, RIKEN, Kobe 650-0047, Japan.
4 Department of Physiology, University of Göteborg, Post Office Box 432, SE-40530 Göteborg, Sweden.
5 Central Research Institute of Hamamatsu Photonics, Hamamatsu 434-8601, Japan.
6 Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Hayama 240-0193, Japan.

* Present address: Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Washington National Primate Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tisa{at}nips.ac.jp

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Neuroscientist Comments.
(2008)
Neuroscientist 14, 134-135
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)