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Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury

Neuroplastic changes in somatotopic organization within the motor and somatosensory systems have long been observed. The interruption of afferent and efferent brain–body pathways promotes extensive cortical reorganization. Changes are majorly related to the typical homuncular organization of sensori...

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Autores principales: Leemhuis, Erik, De Gennaro, Luigi, Pazzaglia, Mariella
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6947607/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31817187
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm8122144
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author Leemhuis, Erik
De Gennaro, Luigi
Pazzaglia, Mariella
author_facet Leemhuis, Erik
De Gennaro, Luigi
Pazzaglia, Mariella
author_sort Leemhuis, Erik
collection PubMed
description Neuroplastic changes in somatotopic organization within the motor and somatosensory systems have long been observed. The interruption of afferent and efferent brain–body pathways promotes extensive cortical reorganization. Changes are majorly related to the typical homuncular organization of sensorimotor areas and specific “somatotopic interferences”. Recent findings revealed a relevant peripheral contribution to the plasticity of body representation in addition to the role of sensorimotor cortices. Here, we review the ways in which structures and brain mechanisms react to missing or critically altered sensory and motor peripheral signals. We suggest that these plastic events are: (i) variably affected across multiple timescales, (ii) age-dependent, (iii) strongly related to altered perceptual sensations during and after remapping of the deafferented peripheral area, and (iv) may contribute to the appearance of secondary pathological conditions, such as allodynia, hyperalgesia, and neuropathic pain. Understanding the considerable complexity of plastic reorganization processes will be a fundamental step in the formulation of theoretical and clinical models useful for maximizing rehabilitation programs and resulting recovery.
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spelling pubmed-69476072020-01-13 Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury Leemhuis, Erik De Gennaro, Luigi Pazzaglia, Mariella J Clin Med Perspective Neuroplastic changes in somatotopic organization within the motor and somatosensory systems have long been observed. The interruption of afferent and efferent brain–body pathways promotes extensive cortical reorganization. Changes are majorly related to the typical homuncular organization of sensorimotor areas and specific “somatotopic interferences”. Recent findings revealed a relevant peripheral contribution to the plasticity of body representation in addition to the role of sensorimotor cortices. Here, we review the ways in which structures and brain mechanisms react to missing or critically altered sensory and motor peripheral signals. We suggest that these plastic events are: (i) variably affected across multiple timescales, (ii) age-dependent, (iii) strongly related to altered perceptual sensations during and after remapping of the deafferented peripheral area, and (iv) may contribute to the appearance of secondary pathological conditions, such as allodynia, hyperalgesia, and neuropathic pain. Understanding the considerable complexity of plastic reorganization processes will be a fundamental step in the formulation of theoretical and clinical models useful for maximizing rehabilitation programs and resulting recovery. MDPI 2019-12-04 /pmc/articles/PMC6947607/ /pubmed/31817187 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm8122144 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Perspective
Leemhuis, Erik
De Gennaro, Luigi
Pazzaglia, Mariella
Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury
title Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury
title_full Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury
title_fullStr Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury
title_full_unstemmed Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury
title_short Disconnected Body Representation: Neuroplasticity Following Spinal Cord Injury
title_sort disconnected body representation: neuroplasticity following spinal cord injury
topic Perspective
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6947607/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31817187
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm8122144
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