ACTIVITY-DEPENDENT PLASTICITY AFTER SPINAL CORD INJURY

申请者的长期职业目标是开发以科学为基础的治疗方法，以促进脊髓损伤(SCI)患者的身体康复和功能恢复。申请者目前的目标是以她在脊髓损伤物理康复方面的临床专业知识为基础，应用她在运动控制方面的博士培训，并结合先进的知识和研究技能，发展成为一名独立和有竞争力的研究员，在脊髓损伤康复的基础和临床研究之间架起桥梁。与主要导师、佛罗里达大学脑研究所(UFBI)博士F·汤普森共同制定的五年研究和培训计划将实现这一目标。该计划利用了UFBI SCI研究人员目前的合作、指导和研究专长。该奖项的目的是：1)丰富候选人的研究和实验设计技能；2)增进脊髓神经生理学和依赖活动的可塑性的当前知识；3)开发评估脊髓神经生理功能的技术；以及4)加强研究支持技能，包括科学写作和授权。最近探索了促进脊髓损伤后个体运动恢复的新方法，利用与运动相关的感觉信息来优化活动依赖的可塑性，以改善行走。运动训练速度可能是一个关键的、依赖于活动的参数，为神经系统提供适当的阶段输入。在这项拟议的研究中，将比较对照组和不完全脊髓损伤受试者在地面和跑步机上辅助运动和步行速度的神经生理机制之间的关系。对于不完全脊髓损伤的受试者，将评估训练速度和长期的运动训练计划对脊髓反射调制功能和地面行走速度的影响。这项研究的目的是评估长期以特定速度对不完全脊髓损伤患者进行运动训练是否会更好地促进神经可塑性，通过改善脊髓反射功能和增加行走速度来衡量。

The applicant's long-term career goal is to develop scientifically-based therapies to advance the physical rehabilitation and recovery of function in persons after spinal cord injury (SCI). The applicant's current goal is to build on her clinical expertise in SCI physical rehabilitation, apply her doctoral training in motor control, and merge advanced knowledge and research skills to develop as an independent and competitive investigator bridging basic and clinical research in SCI rehabilitation. A five-year research and training plan developed with the primary mentor, F. Thompson, PhD of the University of Florida Brain Institute (UFBI) will meet this goal. This plan capitalizes on current collaborations, mentorship, and research expertise of SCI researchers at the UFBI. The aims of this award are to: 1) enrich the candidate's research and experimental design skills; 2) advance current knowledge of spinal cord neurophysiology and activity-dependent plasticity; 3) develop the techniques to assess spinal cord neurophysiological function; and 4) enhance research support skills including scientific writing and grantsmanship. New approaches to facilitate locomotor recovery in individuals after SCI have recently been explored that optimize activity- dependent plasticity using sensory information related to locomotion to improve walking. Locomotor training velocity may be a critical, activity-dependent parameter affording appropriate phasic input to the neural system. In the proposed research, the relationship between neurophysiological mechanisms that sub-serve locomotion and walking velocity overground and on a treadmill will be compared in control subjects and subjects with incomplete SCI. For subjects with incomplete SCI, the effects of training velocity and a long-term locomotor training program on spinal cord reflex modulation function and overground walking velocity will then be assessed. The goal of this research is to assess if long-term locomotor training at a specific velocity in individuals with incomplete SCI will better facilitate neuroplasticity measured by improvements of spinal cord reflex function and increases in walking velocity.