“…However, in embryonic and early postnatal periods, spinal cord injury can result in restoration of descending projections and recovery of function (Shimizu et al, 1990;Hasan et al, 1991;Saunders et al, 1992;Treherne et al, 1992), although sometimes by aberrant pathways (Reh and Kalil, 1982;Bregman and Goldberger, 1982; see also Borgens et al, 1990). In lamprey, fish, and some amphibians, after spinal cord transection, descending axons from brain neurons grow through the transection site and make functional synaptic connections with spinal neurons below the lesion, during which time there is gradual restoration of locomotor function (Hooker, 1925;Piatt, 1955;Bernstein and Gelderd, 1970;Rovainen, 1976;Selzer, 1978;Coggeshall et al, 1982;Coggeshall and Youngblood, 1983;Clarke et al, 1988;Davis et al, 1989a;Beattie et al, 1990;Sharma et al, 1993; for reviews, see McClellan, 1992McClellan, , 1994bMcClellan, , 1998.…”