Brain sensorimotor system atrophy during the early stage of spinal cord injury in humans

Hou, Jingming; Yan, Rubing; Xiang, Zimin; Zhang, H.; Liu, J.; Wu, Yongtao; Zhao, Ming; Pan, Qiufeng; Song, Lingheng; Zhang, W.; Li, H.-T.; Liu, H.-L.; Sun, Chuiguo

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.02.013

Cited by 60 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Typically, primary motor cortex changes from retrograde degeneration have been focused on. Evidence of changes in S1 after SCI is limited but experimental and clinical studies have shown that substantial reorganization occurs and that there may also be shrinkage of the sensory cortex representing deafferented areas (Freund et al, 2013b; Freund et al, 2011; Henderson et al, 2011; Hou et al, 2014; Jones, 2000). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One study (Werhagen et al, 2004) but not others (Siddall et al, 2003; Siddall et al, 1999) found that below-level pain was the only type of neuropathic pain that correlated with completeness of injury. Moreover, lesions leaving more profound motor impairment have also recently been correlated with greater white matter loss in the cerebral peduncles, but it is unclear if pain could have contributed to this atrophy as pain scores were not included in this recent study (Hou et al, 2014). Significant atrophic changes in spinal cord injury appear to occur in the early phase of the disease as this recent study showed prominent changes approximately 9 weeks after injury.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a life-changing event that is known to cause characteristic cortical remodelling (Freund et al, 2013a; Freund et al, 2013b; Hou et al, 2014). However, it is unclear why approximately two-thirds of patients also develop unremitting neuropathic pain — and whether this brings specific underlying structural changes (Wrigley et al, 2009b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Specific brain morphometric changes in spinal cord injury with and without neuropathic pain

Mole

MacIver²,

Sluming

et al. 2014

NeuroImage: Clinical

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Why only certain patients develop debilitating pain after spinal chord injury and whether structural brain changes are implicated remain unknown. The aim of this study was to determine if patients with chronic, neuropathic below-level pain have specific cerebral changes compared to those who remain pain-free. Voxel-based morphometry of high resolution, T1-weighted images was performed on three subject groups comprising patients with pain (SCI-P, n = 18), patients without pain (SCI-N, n = 12) and age- and sex-matched controls (n = 18). The SCI-P group was first compared directly with the SCI-N group and then subsequently with controls. Overall, grey and white matter changes dependent on the presence of pain were revealed. Significant changes were found within the somatosensory cortex and also in corticospinal tracts and visual-processing areas. When the SCI-P group was directly compared with the SCI-N group, reduced grey matter volume was found in the deafferented leg area of the somatosensory cortex bilaterally. This region negatively correlated with pain intensity. Relative to controls, grey matter in this paracentral primary sensory cortex was decreased in SCI-P but conversely increased in SCI-N. When compared with controls, discrepant corticospinal tract white matter reductions were found in SCI-P and in SCI-N. In the visual cortex, SCI-N showed increased grey matter, whilst the SCI-N showed reduced white matter. In conclusion, structural changes in SCI are related to the presence and degree of below-level pain and involve but are not limited to the sensorimotor cortices. Pain-related structural plasticity may hold clinical implications for the prevention and management of refractory neuropathic pain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Specific brain morphometric changes in spinal cord injury with and without neuropathic pain

Mole

MacIver²,

Sluming

et al. 2014

NeuroImage: Clinical

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Previous studies on animals and humans have shown that brain cortex can be reshaped following spinal cord injury (SCI) (Pernet and Hepp-Reymond, 1975; Feringa and Vahlsing, 1985; Pons et al, 1991; Florence, 1998; Hains et al, 2003; Lee et al, 2004; Kim et al, 2006; Felix et al, 2012; Hou et al, 2014; Zheng et al, 2017). This cortical reorganization may contribute to the recovery of spared functions (Kaas et al, 2008; Ghosh et al, 2009; Kao et al, 2009), but it can also produce aberrant “sensations” without any external inputs, such as phantom sensations (Jain et al, 2000; Simoes et al, 2012) and neuropathic pain (Flor et al, 1995; Wrigley et al, 2009b; Henderson et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brain Gray Matter Atrophy after Spinal Cord Injury: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

Qian

Zheng

Chen

et al. 2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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The aim of this study was to explore possible changes in whole brain gray matter volume (GMV) after spinal cord injury (SCI) using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and to study their associations with the injury duration, severity, and clinical variables. In total, 21 patients with SCI (10 with complete and 11 with incomplete SCI) and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. The 3D high-resolution T1-weighted structural images of all subjects were obtained using a 3.0 Tesla MRI system. Disease duration and American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Scale scores were also obtained from each patient. Voxel-based morphometry analysis was carried out to investigate the differences in GMV between patients with SCI and HCs, and between the SCI sub-groups. Associations between GMV and clinical variables were also analyzed. Compared with HCs, patients with SCI showed significant GMV decrease in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral anterior insular cortex, bilateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC), and right superior temporal gyrus. No significant difference in GMV in these areas was found either between the complete and incomplete SCI sub-groups, or between the sub-acute (duration <1 year) and chronic (duration >1 year) sub-groups. Finally, the GMV of the right OFC was correlated with the clinical motor scores of left extremities in not only all SCI patients, but especially the CSCI subgroup. In the sub-acute subgroup, we found a significant positive correlation between the dACC GMV and the total clinical motor scores, and a significant negative correlation between right OFC GMV and the injury duration. These findings indicate that SCI can cause remote atrophy of brain gray matter, especially in the salient network. In general, the duration and severity of SCI may be not associated with the degree of brain atrophy in total SCI patients, but there may be associations between them in subgroups.

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“…Unfortunately, there is little evidence to provide strong support for successful neural regeneration following spinal cord injury in human. Disruption of motor and sensory afferents caused by SCI often results in significant neuroanatomical changes in the brain (Hou et al 2014). Recent findings indicate that these changes in the brain may be closely related to the recovering process of sensorimotor functions in SCI patients (Freund et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combined nonlinear metrics to evaluate spontaneous EEG recordings from chronic spinal cord injury in a rat model: a pilot study

Wang

et al. 2016

Cogn Neurodyn

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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a high-cost disability and may cause permanent loss of movement and sensation below the injury location. The chance of cure in human after SCI is extremely limited. Instead, neural regeneration could have been seen in animals after SCI, and such regeneration could be retarded by blocking neural plasticity pathways, showing the importance of neural plasticity in functional recovery. As an indicator of nonlinear dynamics in the brain, sample entropy was used here in combination with detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and Kolmogorov complexity to quantify functional plasticity changes in spontaneous EEG recordings of rats before and after SCI. The results showed that the sample entropy values were decreased at the first day following injury then gradually increased during recovery. DFA and Kolmogorov complexity results were in consistent with sample entropy, showing the complexity of the EEG time series was lost after injury and partially regained in 1 week. The tendency to regain complexity is in line with the observation of behavioral rehabilitation. A critical time point was found during the recovery process after SCI. Our preliminary results suggested that the combined use of these nonlinear dynamical metrics could provide a quantitative and predictive way to assess the change of neural plasticity in a spinal cord injury rat model.

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Brain sensorimotor system atrophy during the early stage of spinal cord injury in humans

Cited by 60 publications

References 46 publications

Specific brain morphometric changes in spinal cord injury with and without neuropathic pain

Specific brain morphometric changes in spinal cord injury with and without neuropathic pain

Brain Gray Matter Atrophy after Spinal Cord Injury: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

Combined nonlinear metrics to evaluate spontaneous EEG recordings from chronic spinal cord injury in a rat model: a pilot study

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