Plasticity of central nervous system after intercostal-musculocutaneous nerve transfer

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23500601
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Science
• Principal Investigator: SASAKI Sei-Ichi 茨城県立医療大学, 保健医療学部, 教授 (50153987)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): IIZUKA Makito 昭和大学, 医学部, 助教 (40274980)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 肋間神経移行 / 中枢神経系 / 可塑性 / 霊長類 / 呼吸

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Intercostal-musculocutaneous nerve transfer has been applied to clinical cases of severe brachial plexus injury. After 1 to 2 years, patients can move their injured elbow voluntarily. However, neural mechanisms of have not been fully examined. We examined function recovery of the biceps brachii muscle after T 3 and T4 internal intercostal nerves were transferred to the musculocutaneous nerve in monkey.　Afte r 10 months survival period, IC-biceps showed voluntary movements and activities were separated from T5 intercostal muscle activities. However, IC-biceps showed very weak respiratory activities. These results indicate that Th3 and Th4 intercostal motoneurons lose some of respiratory descending inputs and may receive the newly synaptic inputs associated voluntary movements from the cortex or the brainstem.

Free Research Field

神経生理学