Spinal automaticity [Neurosurgery Wiki]

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
====== Spinal automaticity ======

[[Automaticity]] implies that the [[spinal circuit]]s have some capacity to perform complex [[motor task]]s following the disruption of [[supraspinal]] input, and evidence for [[plasticity]] suggests that biochemical changes at the cellular level in the [[spinal cord]] can be induced in an activity-dependent manner that correlates with sensorimotor recovery.
These characteristics should be strongly considered advantageous in developing therapeutic strategies to assist in the recovery of locomotor function following SCI. Rehabilitative efforts combining locomotor training pharmacological means and/or spinal cord electrical stimulation paradigms will most likely result in more effective methods of recovery than using only one intervention
((Edgerton VR, Tillakaratne NJ, Bigbee AJ, de Leon RD, Roy RR. Plasticity of the spinal neural circuitry after injury. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2004;27:145-67. doi: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144308. PMID: 15217329.)).
===== Spinal automaticity of movement control =====
 
The significance of the [[spinal circuit]]ry in controlling postural and [[locomotor]] functions largely re-emerged in the mid-1970s under the leadership of [[Sten Grillner]], demonstrating key phenomena of "[[central pattern generator]]" and "[[fictive locomotion]]" with an evolutionary perspective. These concepts raised the question of how much function can be recovered after [[paralysis]], given the intrinsic [[automaticity]] of spinal networks in injured and uninjured states in [[adult]]s.

A [[review]] explores biological mechanisms governing spinal control of [[movement]]s such as [[posture]] and [[locomotion]]. They focused on concepts that have evolved from [[experiment]]s performed over the past decade. Rather than a [[comprehensive review]] of the vast literature on the neural control of posture and locomotion, they focused on the various mechanisms underlying functional automaticity, and their clinical relevance.

They proposed that multiple combinations of sensory mechanoreceptors linked to [[proprioception]] generate an infinite number of different sensory ensembles, having species-specific meaning and extensive influence in controlling [[posture]] and [[locomotion]]. These sensory ensembles are translated as a probabilistic phenomenon into highly specific but indeterminate actions. Therefore, they opined that spinal translation of these ensembles in real-time plays a central role in the [[automaticity]] of motor control in individuals with and without severe neuromotor dysfunction
((Edgerton VR, Gad P. [[Spinal automaticity]] of [[movement control]] and its role in recovering function after [[spinal injury]]. Expert Rev Neurother. 2022 Aug 31. doi: 10.1080/14737175.2022.2115359. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36043398.)).