Plasticity in sacral spinal cord reflex circuits

Effects of early exercise training on the severity of autonomic dysreflexia following incomplete spinal cord injury in rodents

“…Given that the decline in many facets of physical fitness following SCI is progressive (Thijssen et al, 2006(Thijssen et al, , 2012, the ideal time to initiate exercise and rehabilitation techniques may be early post-injury prior to the development of significant CV dysfunction. It has been well established in the rat model of complete SCI that anatomical changes of the sympathetic preganglionic neurons occurs between 1 and 14 days post-injury, and sprouting of CGRP + fibers in the lumbosacral cord is apparent soon after (Beattie et al, 1993;Krassioukov & Weaver, 1995). Modifications to autonomic pathways and the rearborization of sympathetic and caudal circuits seem to be related to both the appearance and severity of AD (Hou et al, 2008;Krassioukov & Weaver, 1996;Lujan et al, 2014;West et al, 2015a).…”