Key brain-to-spinal cord nerve connections mapped

Scientists have mapped critical brain-to-spinal cord nerve connections that drive voluntary movement in forelimbs, an advance that may help treat people suffering from paralysis after a spine injury or stroke.

The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, is an important step towards rehabilitating motor circuits to help motor function recover after an injury or disease damages the central nervous system.

"The map described in this study should allow us to explore which corticospinal-spinal interneuron connections are good targets for repair and restoration of voluntary movement," said Yutaka Yoshida from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in the US.

"More research is necessary before human therapies are possible, but this information is very helpful for future repair strategies. We now know which circuits need to be repaired," said Yoshida.

Little has been known about how the corticospinal network of nerve connections between the brain and spinal cord are organised and function together, researchers said.

Seemingly simple tasks like reaching or grabbing require precise coordination between sensory and motor information transmitted through these coordinated connections, they said