Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2015, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (12): 1943-1944.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.172312

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Enhanced motor cortex excitability after spinal cord injury

Nardone Raffaele*   

  1. Department of Neurology, Christian Doppler Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria; Department of
    Neurology, Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy; Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
  • Received:2015-11-11 Online:2015-12-30 Published:2015-12-30
  • Contact: Raffaele Nardone, M.D., Ph.D.,raffaele.nardone@asbmeran-o.it.

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Abstract:

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) represents a useful non-invasive approach to studying cortical physiology, in addition to the descending motor pathways (Hallett, 2000), and may also be used to investigate the intracortical facilitatory and inhibitory mechanisms. TMS studies evaluating motor cortex excitability after incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) have showed that the activity of intracortical inhibitory circuits may be reduced in these patients. We briefly illustrate and discuss here the most important TMS studies investigating cortical excitability in subjects with SCI.