Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Oct:99:9-12.
doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2013.09.001. Epub 2013 Sep 14.

Fatigue-induced motor cortex excitability changes in subjects with spinal cord injury

Raffaele Nardone  1 , Yvonne Höller, Francesco Brigo, Peter Höller, Monica Christova, Frediano Tezzon, Stefan Golaszewski, Eugen Trinka
Affiliations

Fatigue-induced motor cortex excitability changes in subjects with spinal cord injury

Raffaele Nardone et al. Brain Res Bull. 2013 Oct.

Abstract

To further investigate the mechanisms of exercise-induced cortical plasticity after spinal cord injury (SCI), the cortical silent period (CoSP) evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) during a fatiguing muscle contraction was evaluated in 5 patients with incomplete cervical SCI and in 5 healthy subjects. The physiological lengthening of CoSP end latency during fatigue was not observed in the SCI patients. This reduced intracortical inhibition, probably secondary to decreased activity of the GABAergic inhibitory interneurons that modulate the corticomotoneuronal output, could represent a 'positive' neuroplastic response in an attempt to compensate for the loss of corticospinal axons. The investigation of motor cortex excitability during fatiguing exercise may shed light on the role of exercise therapy in promoting brain reorganization and functional recovery in humans.

Keywords: Cortical silent period; Exercise; Fatigue; Spinal cord injury; Transcranial magnetic stimulation.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources