Chemogenetic modulation of sensory afferents induces locomotor changes and plasticity after spinal cord injury.

ABSTRACT: Neuromodulatory therapies for spinal cord injury (SCI) such as electrical epidural stimulation (EES) are increasingly effective at improving patient outcomes. These improvements are thought to be due, at least in part, to plasticity in neuronal circuits. Precisely which circuits are influenced and which afferent classes are most effective in stimulating change remain important open questions. Genetic tools, such as Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs), support targeted and reversible neuromodulation as well as histological characterization of manipulated neurons. We therefore transduced and activated lumbar large diameter peripheral afferents with excitatory (hM3Dq) DREADDs, in a manner analogous to EES, in a rat hemisection model, to begin to trace plastici

SUBMITTER: Eisdorfer JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9461563 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature