School of Medicine Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2024
Abstract
Objective: Corticospinal inhibitory mechanisms are relevant to functional recovery but remain poorly understood after spinal cord injury (SCI). Post-injury characteristics of contralateral silent period (CSP), a measure of corticospinal inhibition evaluated using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), is inconsistent in literature. We envisioned that investigating CSP across muscles with varying degrees of weakness may be a reasonable approach to resolve inconsistencies and elucidate the relevance of corticospinal inhibition for upper extremity function following SCI.
Methods: We studied 27 adults with chronic C1-C8 SCI (age 48.8 ± 16.1 years, 3 females) and 16 able-bodied participants (age 33.2 ± 11.8 years, 9 females). CSP characteristics were assessed across biceps (muscle power = 3-5) and triceps (muscle power = 1-3) representing stronger and weaker muscles, respectively. We assessed functional abilities using the Capabilities of the Upper Extremity Test (CUE-T).
Results: Participants with chronic SCI had prolonged CSPs for biceps but delayed and diminished CSPs for triceps compared to able-bodied participants. Early-onset CSPs for biceps and longer, deeper CSPs for triceps correlated with better CUE-T scores.
Conclusions: Corticospinal inhibition is pronounced for stronger biceps but diminished for weaker triceps muscle in SCI indicating innervation relative to the level of injury matters in the study of CSP.
Significance: Nevertheless, corticospinal inhibition or CSP holds relevance for upper extremity function following SCI.
Creative Commons License
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Publication Title
Clinical Neurophysiology
DOI
10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.026
Academic Level
faculty
Mentor/PI Department
Neuroscience
Comments
Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.026