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Article: Is the recovery of stepping following spinal cord injury mediated by modifying existing neural pathways or by generating new pathways? a Perspective. (Spinal Cord Injury Special Series).
- Article from:
- Physical Therapy
- Article date:
- December 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 American Physical Therapy Association, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Recently, there has been a surge in the efforts to regenerate the injured spinal cord as a primary means of regaining locomotor function in the adult mammal. Indeed, restoring some anatomical and perhaps functional connectivity appears to be possible based on studies that have used, for example, peripheral nerve grafts, (1) the administration of antibodies that block growth-inhibiting protein activity, (2) or the implantation of engineered cells. (3) On the other hand, a remarkable degree of locomotor recovery achieved by the mammal with spinal cord injury can be attributed to a reorganization of spared neural pathways. For instance, it has been estimated that if as little ...