HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Free Full Text (PDF) Free All Versions of this Article: 101/6/1776    most recent 00515.2006v1 Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (22) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Adkins, D. L. Articles by Kleim, J. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Adkins, D. L. Articles by Kleim, J. A.

INVITED REVIEW

HIGHLIGHTED TOPIC
Neural Changes Associated with Training

Motor training induces experience-specific patterns of plasticity across motor cortex and spinal cord

¹Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Hospital, Gainesville; ²Department of Neuroscience, Mcknight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; ³Department of Neurosurgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee; and ⁴Sentient Medical Systems, Cockeysville, Maryland

The motor cortex and spinal cord possess the remarkable ability to alter structure and function in response to differential motor training. Here we review the evidence that the corticospinal system is not only plastic but that the nature and locus of this plasticity is dictated by the specifics of the motor experience. Skill training induces synaptogenesis, synaptic potentiation, and reorganization of movement representations within motor cortex. Endurance training induces angiogenesis in motor cortex, but it does not alter motor map organization or synapse number. Strength training alters spinal motoneuron excitability and induces synaptogenesis within spinal cord, but it does not alter motor map organization. All three training experiences induce changes in spinal reflexes that are dependent on the specific behavioral demands of the task. These results demonstrate that the acquisition of skilled movement induces a reorganization of neural circuitry within motor cortex that supports the production and refinement of skilled movement sequences. We present data that suggest increases in strength may be mediated by an increased capacity for activation and/or recruitment of spinal motoneurons while the increased metabolic demands associated with endurance training induce cortical angiogenesis. Together these results show the robust pattern of anatomic and physiological plasticity that occurs within the corticospinal system in response to differential motor experience. The consequences of such distributed, experience-specific plasticity for the encoding of motor experience by the motor system are discussed.

skill training; endurance training; strength training; motor cortex plasticity; spinal cord plasticity

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. L. Taylor and P. G. Martin Voluntary Motor Output Is Altered by Spike-Timing-Dependent Changes in the Human Corticospinal Pathway J. Neurosci., September 16, 2009; 29(37): 11708 - 11716. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. G. Martin, A. L. Hudson, S. C. Gandevia, and J. L. Taylor Reproducible Measurement of Human Motoneuron Excitability With Magnetic Stimulation of the Corticospinal Tract J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2009; 102(1): 606 - 613. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Mirelman, P. Bonato, and J. E. Deutsch Effects of Training With a Robot-Virtual Reality System Compared With a Robot Alone on the Gait of Individuals After Stroke Stroke, January 1, 2009; 40(1): 169 - 174. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Tsao, M. P. Galea, and P. W. Hodges Reorganization of the motor cortex is associated with postural control deficits in recurrent low back pain Brain, August 1, 2008; 131(8): 2161 - 2171. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. A. Maldonado, R. P. Allred, E. L. Felthauser, and T. A. Jones Motor Skill Training, but not Voluntary Exercise, Improves Skilled Reaching After Unilateral Ischemic Lesions of the Sensorimotor Cortex in Rats Neurorehabil Neural Repair, June 1, 2008; 22(3): 250 - 261. [Abstract] [PDF]