Electrophysiological characterization of spontaneous recovery in deep dorsal horn interneurons after incomplete spinal cord injury

摘要: In the weeks and months following an incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) significant spontaneous recovery of function occurs in absence any applied therapeutic intervention. The anatomical correlates this plasticity are well characterized, however, functional changes that occur interneurons after poorly understood. Here we use a T10 hemisection model SCI adult mice (9-10 wks old) combined with whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology horizontal slice preparation to examine intrinsic membrane synaptic properties deep dorsal horn (DDH) interneurons. We made these measurements during short-term (4 wks) long-term (10 SCI. Several important altered short-term, but recover values resembling those uninjured controls longer term. AP discharge patterns reorganized at both time points. This is matched by reorganization expression voltage-activated potassium calcium subthreshold-currents shape discharge. Excitatory inputs onto DDH significantly restructured mice. Plots sEPSC peak amplitude vs. rise times suggest considerable dendritic expansion or especially from Connectivity between descending column pathways reduced amplified recovery. Our results mechanisms spontaneously takes minimum 10 initial stabilize.