Acute intermittent hypoxia and rehabilitative training following cervical spinal injury alters neuronal hypoxia- and plasticity-associated protein expression.

ABSTRACT: One of the most promising approaches to improve recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) is the augmentation of spontaneously occurring plasticity in uninjured neural pathways. Acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH, brief exposures to reduced O2 levels alternating with normal O2 levels) initiates plasticity in respiratory systems and has been shown to improve recovery in respiratory and non-respiratory spinal systems after SCI in experimental animals and humans. Although the mechanism by which AIH elicits its effects after SCI are not well understood, AIH is known to alter protein expression in spinal neurons in uninjured animals. Here, we examine hypoxia- and plasticity-related protein expression using immunofluorescence in spinal neurons in SCI rats that were treated with AIH combined with moto

SUBMITTER: Hassan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5959066 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature