Non-Invasive Treatments For Spinal Cord Injuries

     Individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI) can experience a loss in function, sensation and strength. Many treatment plans focus on managing symptoms and complications rather than rehabilitation and recovery. Non-invasive neuromodulation techniques offer a way to facilitate recovery through stimulation and have been proven to improve function in people with SCI.

    Researchers Monica Perez and Hang Jin Jo investigated the effects of paired corticospinal-motor neuronal stimulation (PCMS) and exercise to enhance recovery in people with spinal cord injuries in their study, “Corticospinal-motor neuronal plasticity promotes exercise-mediated recovery in humans with spinal cord injury.” They studied 38 individuals with spinal cord injuries and randomly divided them into three separate experimental groups. The individuals received either 10 sessions of PCMS and exercise, 10 sessions of sham-PCMS and exercise, or 10 sessions of PCMS alone in the span of 2-3 weeks. During PCMS, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was delivered at maximum intensity so corticospinal volleys could arrive at corticospinal-motor neuron synapses of specific targeted muscles before the occurrence of antidromic potentials. Immediately following the conduction of PCMS, the participants were instructed to exercise for 45 minutes. These sessions included both upper-limb and lower-limb exercises. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs), maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) and overall function were measured in all participants before and after their respective treatments. The groups that received PCMS and PCMS with exercise showed significant increases in MEPs and MVCs after 10 sessions of treatment. However, the individuals treated with sham-PCMS and exercise showed virtually no change in their MEPs or MVCs from pre-treatment to post-treatment. All three groups decreased their times to complete functional tests, which correlates to an overall increase in functionality for all participants. The researchers followed up with the participants that received either sham-PCMS and exercise or PCMS and exercise six months after the initial study. They found that those who received PCMS and exercise maintained their increased MEPs, MVCs and functional outcomes while those who received sham-PCMS and exercise did not. This study provides evidence for the positive effects of PCMS on exercise mediated recovery in people with spinal cord injuries. 

    The study mentioned above focuses on the recovery of people’s ability to ambulate through exercise and PCMS. Individuals with spinal cord injuries also struggle with autonomic functions, like the function of the lower urinary tract (LUT). In the article, “Non-invasive Neuromodulation of Spinal Cord Restores Lower Urinary Tract Function After Paralysis” researchers Parag N. Gad, et. al., studied Transcutaneous Electrical Spinal Stimulation for LUT functional Augmentation (TESSLA), a non-invasive neuromodulatory technique, and its ability to restore the function of the lower urinary tract in individuals with SCI. Seven participants with SCI were recruited and they first received spinal stimulation to map the LUT to spinally evoked responses. Participants also received a baseline urodynamic procedure before receiving urodynamic studies with TESSLA. The researchers found that, “TESSLA delivered at T11 at 1 Hz resulted in improved voiding efficiency (VE), increased flow rate, decreased residual volume and improved coordination between the detrusor and sphincter” (Gad, et. al., 2018). In addition, when the urodynamic studies were delivered without stimulation, participants regressed back to their baseline function. This study shows how the use of TESSLA can facilitate bladder function and recovery by activating neuronal networks that control the lower urinary tract function. Although the study lacks evidence for the long term effects of TESSLA, it offers evidence that this non-invasive technique can be used to help people with SCI gain back control over their autonomic functions. 

    Both studies used non-invasive neuromodulatory techniques to facilitate recovery in people with SCI. PCMS was proven to promote functional recovery in participants and the functional increases were maintained six months after the treatment. TESSLA proved to be an effective technique to restore bladder function and facilitate voluntary bladder control in individuals with SCI. These findings give hope to individuals with spinal cord injuries. The loss of voluntary control over ambulation and autonomic functions can be very disheartening but these studies, and future studies, offer proven ways to facilitate recovery using non-invasive techniques. 

Citations:

Jo, Hang Jin, and Monica A Perez. “Corticospinal-motor neuronal plasticity promotes exercise-mediated recovery in humans with spinal cord injury.” Brain : a journal of neurology vol. 143,5 (2020): 1368-1382. doi:10.1093/brain/awaa052

Gad, Parag N et al. “Non-invasive Neuromodulation of Spinal Cord Restores Lower Urinary Tract Function After Paralysis.” Frontiers in neuroscience vol. 12 432. 29 Jun. 2018, doi:10.3389/fnins.2018.00432

The Effects of Gesture Learning in Neurotypical and Non-neurotypical children

There are countless different ways of learning and many may disregard the importance of motor learning like gesture, but experiments have been done on this topic, specifically focusing on a child's learning.  It has been found that gesture has a great benefit for a child’s learning inside and outside the classroom. Both neurotypical and non-neurotypical children can show benefits in the use of gesture-based learning.

In the article, "Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year old children" by Elizabeth M. Wakefield et al., Wakefield and colleagues examined the neurological connection on how children solve mathematical problems by a speech and gesture approach or a speech only approach. The mechanisms used by these researchers were that gesture supports learning by directing visual attention, and gesture supports learning by engaging the motor system. The researchers used an eye movement tracker to observe the attention of children when they were presented with gesture and no gesture during a teaching lesson. It was shown that children presented with gestures had more visual attention to the problem they were presented, compared to children who had no gestures given during their lesson. Speech only lectures had children’s eye movement all over the place, which means that the children’s visual attention was not focusing on the lecture. The researchers also used fMRI and were able to show the regions of the brain that were activated when children were presented different stimuli. It was found that gesture supports learning by engaging the motor system. This study shows that gesture provided more visual attention compared to no gesture, and visual attention is key to proper learning. 

 

The role of gesture in children’s learning was also examined in the article “Parents’ Translations of Child Gesture Facilitate Word Learning in Children with Autism, Down Syndrome and Typical Development” by Nevene Dimitrove et al,. The researchers examined the relation between children with developmental disorders like Autism and Down Syndrome and how gesture plays a role in their learning development. Children are known to connect objects with gestures, and they learn the translation of that said object from teachers and parents. Unlike neurotypical children, children with autism and down syndrome tend to show a delay in their development specifically in language and vocabulary. The research completed by Nevene Dimitrove and colleagues showed that when parents of children with these neurological disorders translated the gestures the child performed; the child would then learn the vocabulary associated to that gesture more easily. If the parent does not translate the gesture, it is less likely that the child will be able to recall or learn the spoken vocabulary to that object. The language development of the children in this research study is greatly affected by their parents’ translations and responses to the gestures of the child. This shows that gesture is significant in the language development with children that have autism and down syndrome.

These two research articles show the importance of gestures in all children, whether they are neurotypical or have some sort of neurological disorder. Children greatly benefit from the use of gesture when learning because it helps with their visual attention as well as correlating an object to vocabulary. Although the research done by Elizabeth M. Wakefield et al, focuses more on the use of gestures and visual attention when teaching a neurotypical child in a classroom setting, children with neurological disorders would likely benefit from gestured focused lessons in the classroom as well. The research done by Nevene Dimitrove et al, shows that when a child uses gestures themselves and have their parents use translation for the gesture, it is very beneficial for their learning. Although this article focuses mainly on children with autism and down syndrome, it would be assumed that neurotypical children would also benefit from the use of translated gesture. 

Citations:

Wakefield E, Novack MA, Congdon EL, Franconeri S, Goldin-Meadow S. Gesture helps learners learn, but not merely by guiding their visual attention. Dev Sci. 2018 Nov;21(6):e12664. doi: 10.1111/desc.12664. Epub 2018 Apr 16. PMID: 29663574; PMCID: PMC6191377.

 

 

Dimitrova, N., Özçalışkan, Ş. & Adamson, L.B. Parents’ Translations of Child Gesture Facilitate Word Learning in Children with Autism, Down Syndrome and Typical Development. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 221–231 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2566-7

 

 

The Emerging New Modeling Technique of Cerebral Organoids

 

The use of cerebral organoids is a relatively new field of 3D modeling in the last decade. Made up from pluripotent stem cells, these cells grow into cerebral tissue like that of the mammal brain. It is being widely used, and is still developing as a tool to study prenatal neurodevelopment, drug pathology, and genetic precursors

In the article, “Dynamic Characterization of Structural, Molecular, and Electrophysiological Phenotypes of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cerebral Organoids, and Comparison with Fetal and Adult Gene Profiles” Logan et al. examined the growth of these cerebral organoids and focused on electrophysiological developments comparatively to fetal and adult brain tissue for the first time. Growing iPSCs for a 2 month differentiation period into embryoids, epithelial tissue then cerebral organoids. The researchers were able to find electrical activity within these organoids like human brain tissue through ion channel responses with drug (profonol) and action potentials of neurons. In this, they were able to find genetic markers for brain cells such as neurons. Their findings showed in overlap between fetal brain tissue and cerebral organoids in neural signaling pathways. As well as gave more analysis for which to further develop modeling in the adult brain for neurotransmitter and functional responses within drug pathways. What makes this study most unique is its groundwork focus on the cerebral organoids as a model and testing the limits to which it can be used for future analysis.

In the previous article their goal was to use cerebral organoids as a tool for further comparisons between adult and fetal brain tissue. Similarly, researchers at North Carolina State University used the same techniques of cerebral organoids to study the genetic precursor of Angelman syndrome.  Angelman’s syndrome is a disorder of neurodevelopment that can cause delays in development, speech impairment, ataxia, and behavioral traits like overexcitability. With no cure yet to be found, it effects about 1 in 15,000 people and people diagnosed can expect a normal life expectancy with care. Here in this experiment, the use of cerebral organoids was fundamental in their approach to study prenatal neurodevelopment in humans, that could not be replicated within mice. In this study, the researchers focused on UBE3A protein for its role in early neurodevelopment in which low levels of activity can cause Angelman syndrome. Researchers were able to use cerebral organoids due to being like the first trimesters of fetuses, and thus an accurate model for neurodevelopment and disease etiology especially in the functionality of UBE3A.

Both studies had the requirement of cerebral organoids in modeling neuronal development and were able to discover great conclusions as a result of this cutting-edge modeling. These studies help lay further evidence for a shift in modeling of the brain not so readily available before, as well as future applications to study the adult brain in development, drug pathology or disease analysis. Hopefully, further research will continue to take this new model and open up pathways for further study on the human brain

 

 

 

Logan, S., Arzua, T., Yan, Y., Jiang, C., Liu, X., Yu, L., . . . Bai, X. (2020). Dynamic Characterization of Structural, Molecular, and Electrophysiological Phenotypes of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cerebral Organoids, and Comparison with Fetal and Adult Gene Profiles. Cells, 9(5), 1301. doi:10.3390/cells9051301

Sen, D., Voulgaropoulos, A., Drobna, Z., & Keung, A. J. (2020). Human Cerebral Organoids Reveal Early Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Pharmacological Responses of UBE3A. Stem Cell Reports. doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.08.006

The Various Uses of Spinal Cord Stimulation

 Spinal cord impairment has a variety of causes. It can either be through  traumatizing spinal cord injuries or through the secondhand impact from motor disorders. Whichever the cause, the effects are debilitating and take a toll on an individual's physical and mental health. 

In the article "Corticospinal-motor neuronal plasticity promotes exercise-mediated recovery in humans with spinal cord injury", researchers proposed that by targeting specific spinal synapses (depending on the injury) with non invasive stimulation and combining it with exercise can further promote recovery. The effect of paired corticospinal motor neuronal stimulation (PCMS) was tested in individuals with spinal cord injuries in either the cervical, thoracic, or lumber regions. Findings indicated that PCMS is an effective strategy to be used in conjunction with exercise for humans with these injuries. The research revealed that targeting these spinal synapses with PCMS represents a mechanism that engages the residual corticospinal connections after injury which can improve functional recovery. This study is unique because it is one of the very few studies that included participants that received exercise along with neurostimulation. However, there are other non invasive neuromodulatory techniques to be used with individuals with spinal cord injuries that have yet to be explored. 

In the article mentioned above, researchers were targeting spinal synapses with stimulation coupled with exercise in order to promote recovery. A similar technique was proposed by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. These researchers proposed that spinal cord stimulation can reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's disease which is a neurodegenerative disorder which affects more than 1 million Americans. Parkinson's is characterized by noticeable physical symptoms which includes tremors, difficulty walking and speaking as well as non motor symptoms. Previous therapies proved ineffective which included deep brain stimulation. In this study, researchers planted electrodes near patients' spines and then applied one of three types of electrical stimulation. The patients' reported improvement following the implantation based on motor tests assessing mobility. These findings may suggest that spinal cord stimulation can be a therapeutic treatment from those suffering from pain and motor symptoms as a result from Parkinson's. However, further research is needed to determine if improved motor function is due to decreased pain or if neurological changes are occurring due to the spinal cord stimulation. 

Both paired corticospinal motor neuronal stimulation and spinal cord stimulation through electrodes are two different modalities used in order to promote either recovery or therapeutic effects in patients who suffer from complications of the nervous system. The ability to move freely is something that many of us take for granted. In both spinal cord injuries and motor disorders, this ability is greatly affected leaving individuals often feeling hopeless. These techniques show a promising future for the utilization of spinal cord manipulation through stimulation in order to provide relief to patients. 

Work Cited:

University of California - San Diego. "Spinal cord stimulation reduces pain and motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients: In study, 15 patients with long-term PD and chronic pain and mobility impairment showed improvements across multiple measures." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 September 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200928163757.htm>.

Jo, Hang Jin, and Monica A Perez. “Corticospinal-Motor Neuronal Plasticity Promotes Exercise-Mediated Recovery in Humans with Spinal Cord Injury.” Brain, vol. 143, no. 5, 2020, pp. 1368–1382., doi:10.1093/brain/awaa052.

The emerging field of neuroaesthetics

 

Neuroaesthetics is a relatively new field of research. It has received criticism from other fields of science questioning their aim and scope of study, the nature of neuroaesthetics, and their possible contributions to science itself. Despite this, neuroaesthetics continuous to steadily grow and there does not seem to be any chance of it stopping.

            One particular paper tackles the question of subjectivity and objectivity of beauty. In “Is beauty in the eye of the beholder or an objective truth? A neuroscientific answer” Dr. Norberto Grzywacz and colleagues recognize that through evolution human brains have developed mechanisms for processing visual information. With this in mind, the cognitive processes of visual preferences, with some cultural variability, have also largely evolved in some direction creating universal objectivity. The researchers looked at early Renaissance portraits and measured their symmetry, balance, and complexity. These particular characteristics were chosen due to their evolutionary importance, dedicated circuitries in the brain and their presence in art. They found that the Renaissance painters did not maximize the use of symmetry, balance, or complexity and instead the painters used different degree combinations of the three. Their data resulted in what they refer to as the ‘neuroaesthetic space’ in where preferences of the three characteristics studied are found in this space suggesting that these three variables work universally, and therefore show some objectivity, to determine aesthetic value. Next, the researchers focused on the learning of aesthetic values to determine subjectivity. For this they looked at the process of reinforcement learning and motivational state circuitries in the brain.  They found that motivational states help us choose actions that are best for ourselves and that because of these states learning could give rise to subjective experiences of beauty. Ultimately, the researchers conclude that while we may all be born with objective biases of beauty, over time our subjective experiences individualize these biases through learning.

            While the previous paper partially studied beauty in art, neuroaesthetics, as argued by Marcus T Pearce and his colleagues in “Neuroaesthetics: the cognitive neuroscience of aesthetic experience”, is not simply limited to art and should not reduce aesthetic value simply to beauty. In this article, many of the controversies and criticisms regarding the field are addressed. The scientific quest of neuroaesthetics is to understand the aesthetic value of various objects both evolutionarily and cognitively. Beauty alone does not define the aesthetic value, so do other psychological states, such as experience of the sublime, hatred, fear, awe, pleasure, and many others. Another familiar criticism states that science can not deal with the personal and subjective nature of the aesthetic experience since it can not be measured independently from the experiencing subject. The paper responds by mentioning that this has not stopped psychology and cognitive neuroscience from developing methods to measure subjective experiences such as responding to facial stimuli. In addition, the studying of emotions deals with a rather subjective topic. Yet, it has not stopped scientists from entering the field and as a result has greatly developed and contributed to the overall scientific knowledge. The field of neuroaesthetics aims to study the aesthetic value at various levels ranging from subjective experience to cellular and genetic levels and become integrated with other fields of science to do so.

            Neuroaesthetics is still arguably in its developing stages. As such, it is not surprising that criticisms arise and that some are left unattended. Nonetheless, Norberto and his colleagues carefully conducted their research and laid out their findings in a way that agreed with the paper written by Marcus Pearce and his colleagues. We learned that the creation of the aesthetic value is partly due to our own individualized experiences, specifically interpreted by our ability to learn and our emotional states, and the universality of human evolution. These findings, at least Marcus would hope, would be integrated into other fields of research that would lead them further ahead in their scientific quest.

           

Works cited

Aleem H., Pombo M., Correa-Herran I., Grzywacz N.M. (2019) Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder or an Objective Truth? A Neuroscientific Answer. In: Contreras-Vidal J., Robleto D., Cruz-Garza J., Azorín J., Nam C. (eds) Mobile Brain-Body Imaging and the Neuroscience of Art, Innovation and Creativity. Springer Series on Bio- and Neurosystems, vol 10. Springer, Cham.. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24326-5_11

Pearce, Marcus T., et al. “Neuroaesthetics: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Aesthetic Experience.” Perspectives on Psychological Science, vol. 11, no. 2, SAGE Publications, Mar. 2016, pp. 265–79, doi:10.1177/1745691615621274.

 

The Underlying Neuroscience of Risk and Resilience: Implications for Psychopathology

    Risk and resilience are topics that psychology, neuroscience, and other social and biological sciences are dedicated to studying because they are implicated in various psychiatric and physical illnesses. A better understanding of these phenomena may mean better prevention, treatment, and overall well-being, especially for those who are at a high risk of experiencing trauma. 

Dr. Anna Weinberg at McGill University in Montreal, Canada has conducted several studies to better understand the neural correlates underlying risk and resilience, including in daughters of depressed mothers. In one particular paper, “Risk and resilience in an acute stress paradigm: Evidence from salivary cortisol and time-frequency analysis of the reward positivity,” Dr. Weinberg discusses a study in which she and colleagues analyze the associations between acute stress, neural responses, and reward-related potentials. Based on participants’ exposure to a very acute stressor, the results suggest a bidirectional relationship between stress and the brain’s reward system: greater stress may reduce reward-related feedback, while greater reward-sensitivity may buffer the severe impacts of stress on individuals. While these results find support for stress-induced anhedonia, they also show that a strong neural reward system is associated with less stress responses, which may be a marker of resilience in stress-related psychopathology.  

These results spark questions regarding the implications they hold for mental illness. However, it is important to note that the stressor the participants faced in Dr. Weinberg’s study was very acute (an unfriendly supervisor) and may not be reflective of long-term stressors and traumas such as exposure to war or sexual assault. Dr. Ruth Feldman, a professor at Yale University, posited a model that suggests that there are several systems that are markers of resilience because they allow for adaptation to social ecology and hardships. Together they explain the neurobiology of affiliation, as expressed in “What is resilience: an affiliative neuroscience approach.” Those systems are oxytocin, the affiliative brain, and biobehavioral synchrony. Oxytocin is a hormone that has been implicated in affiliation, in connection between humans, and in neural plasticity in the hippocampus. Dr. Feldman finds that oxytocin also plays an important role in the affiliative brain, which is made up of several interconnected brain structures that integrate motivation and cognitive aspects and ultimately help in the formation of attachments and the management of stress. Finally, biobehavioral synchrony is important for affiliation because it coordinates the social, behavioral and mental conditions of individuals and relates them with the outside world and relationships. 

In a unique longitudinal study, Dr. Feldman follows three cohorts of high-risk children (children with a depressed mother, children who were exposed to war from infancy, and children who were born prematurely) from infancy to adolescence. Throughout the study, there were repeated measurements of psychopathology, oxytocin, and neuroimaging. The results of the study support the proposed model of the neurobiology of affiliation. The findings suggest that synchrony and oxytocin—components of the neurobiology of affiliation—were markers of resilience. Neuroimaging provided even more interesting results. Not all children facing trauma showed disruptions in the default mode network (DMN), which is implicated in sustaining the sense of self and displaying empathy. Only children facing trauma and receiving minimal synchrony showed disruption in the DMN. This emphasizes the role of synchrony in developing and maintaining social relationships and resilience. Ultimately, the evidence of this study supports Dr. Feldman’s model of the neurobiology of affiliation, by showing that oxytocin, the affiliative brain, and biobehavioral synchrony intersect to mark resilience for children facing trauma throughout their childhood.

            Dr. Feldman’s powerful conclusions display several connections to Dr. Weinberg’s work by showing that there are neurobiological underpinnings to risk and resilience. Dr. Weinberg’s work utilized the impact of acute stressors to imply that the reward system may have a role in mediating the effect of stress and the development of psychopathology. In contrast, Dr. Feldman conducted a longitudinal study examining the neurobiology of children undergoing very grave traumas in a real-life setting to support her affiliative neurobiology model. Although the researchers point to different mechanisms and brain regions implicated in resilience, they both suggest that neural activation of certain regions may affect risk and resilience. Both Dr. Weinberg and Dr. Feldman’s research exhibit the need to continue understanding the brain in risk and resilience in order to establish effective prevention and treatment methods.

 

Citations:

 

Ethridge, P., Ali, N., Racine, S. Pruessner, J. & Weinberg, A (2020). Risk and resilience in an acute stress   paradigm: Evidence from salivary cortisol and time-frequency analysis of the reward positivity. Clinical Psychological Science.

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Feldman, R. What is resilience: An affiliative neuroscience approach (2020). World Psychiatric Association.             

 

New Advancements in Spinal Cord Injury Treatments

Treatment options for spinal cord injuries

    Medical experts refer to spinal cord injuries as damage sustained to part of the spinal cord and/ or its nerves. An injury in this area affects the ability of the body to send or receive messages from various parts of the body via the spinal cord. Depending on the level of spinal cord injury, the conduction of neuronal messages such as muscle contraction can be sent to the brain, but below the level of injury, the spinal cord is unable to send messages elsewhere. Such an injury may cause temporary or permanent paralysis. In the articles discussed below, researchers focus on how to lessen the effects of paralysis by stimulating and repairing, through neuronal regrowth, parts of the body affected by spinal cord injuries.

In the article “Corticospinal-motor neuronal plasticity promotes exercises-mediated recovery in humans with spinal cord injury,” researchers Hang Jin Jo and Monica A. Perez aimed to determine if exercise combined with corticospinal-motor stimulation (PCMS) in spinal cord injury patients promotes their recovery. To do this, researchers gathered their data from patients with varying degrees of spinal cord injury levels. Researchers conducted PCMS using TMS and peripheral nerve stimulation as well. Following stimulation, patients were to exercise for a time span of 45 minutes by performing various tasks after which the time they took to complete the task, the amplitude of corticospinal responses, and the maximal voluntary contractions were assessed. Researchers then compared the results of this data to that of a patient that only exercised (sham-PCMS). Researchers found that the combination of exercise with PCMS decreased the time it took for patients to complete the task by 20% whereas maximal voluntary contractions increased by around 50%. These findings suggest a possible treatment option to aid in the recovery of patients suffering from spinal cord injury.

In a news article published by Science Daily, a recent study conducted by Dr. Li and colleagues explored another method to aid in the recovery of patients suffering from a spinal cord injury. This article discusses a recent discovery published in the journal Cell Metabolism. Rather than exploring how simulation can positively affect spinal cord injury patients, Dr. Li and colleagues explored how astrocytic glial cells play a role in the regrowth of cells that the injury impacted. Specifically, astrocytic glial cells play a prominent role in the formation of scar tissue after an injury; this scar tissue then disrupts the ability for neurons to regrow. In essence, astrocytic cells usually inhibit new neuronal growth due to the formation of scar tissue. As the article “New path to neuron regeneration after spinal cord injury” published by ScienceDaily notes, researchers hypothesized that this scar tissue formation may be a reversible process. If the formation of scar tissue by astrocytic cells is reversible, then the regrowth of neuronal cells can take place, thus, possibly enabling the recovery in spinal cord injuries. While studying astrocytic glial cells, the article notes that researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine have discovered that “... glia have a metabolic switch associated with glucose metabolism that when triggered reverses inhibitory effects on growth and promotes axon regeneration” (Jo & Perez, 2020). The discovery of glial cells having a metabolic switch is significant as this is the first time in which there is evidence to support the role of glucose metabolism in the regeneration of neuronal cells important for spinal cord injury recovery. Specifically, these researchers focused their study on the metabolic process of glycolysis. In doing so, they found that “upregulating this pathway alone in glial cells was sufficient to promote axon regeneration” (Jo & Perez, 2020). Although this study used only fly and mouse models, researchers have plans to include large animals in their research to further their study. Such a discovery suggests that there is reason to believe that patients enduring a spinal cord injury will have more recovery options in the near future.

Though these two studies explored different ways in which to approach spinal cord injuries, each compiles compelling evidence to suggest new ways to aid in patients’ recovery. Each article presents hopeful evidence, as the loss of function in spinal cord injuries is devastating and debilitating. As stated above, this type of injury can not only diminish one’s physical abilities due to paralysis, but it can also take a toll on someone mentally as they are not able to function as they did before the injury. The findings of these studies, and other studies on the recovery of spinal cord injuries, can lead to treatment options that could drastically restore the abilities (both physical and mental) of patients.

Works Cited 

Jo, H. J., & Perez, M. A. (2020). Corticospinal-motor neuronal plasticity promotes exercise-mediated recovery in humans with spinal cord injury. Brain, 143(5), 1368-1382. doi:10.1093/brain/awaa052

Temple University Health System. "New path to neuron regeneration after spinal cord injury." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 September 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200916113549.htm>.