Effects of rehabilitation on plastic alterations in the phrenic motoneurons after spinal cord injury

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K23257
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0909:Sports sciences, physical education, health sciences, and related fields
• Research Institution: Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Science
• Principal Investigator: Kawamura Kenta 茨城県立医療大学, 保健医療学部, 助教 (00875742)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 横隔神経運動ニューロン / 頸髄損傷 / リハビリテーション / 横隔神経 / 運動ニューロン / 呼吸トレーニング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

After cervical cord injury, diaphragm paralysis occurs and respiratory function is impaired. However, rehabilitation for respiratory dysfunction after cervical cord injury is not well established. In this study, respiratory load training was performed after cervical cord injury to determine how the morphological characteristics of phrenic motoneurons were altered. Animals underwent 3 weeks of respiratory load training with high carbon dioxide gas after cervical cord injury, and at week 3, horseradish peroxidase was retrogradely incorporated into the phrenic motoneurons and monophological data were analyzed from the spinal cord sections. It has been reported that the phrenic motoneurons decrease in size after cervical spinal cord injury, but respiratory training may prevent the decrease in size.

Free Research Field

リハビリテーション

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現在のところ，頸髄損傷後の呼吸リハビリテーションのエビデンスは十分に確立されていない。エビデンスを確立していくためには，臨床データだけではなく，神経や筋が形態学的/機能的にどのように回復するのかを明らかにしていく必要がある。本研究の成果は頸髄損傷後の呼吸リハビリテーションが横隔神経運動ニューロンの萎縮を防ぐ可能性を示しており，回復メカニズムを明らかにしていくうえでの基礎的なデータとなり得る。