The Circuitry of the Human Spinal Cord
Spinal and Corticospinal Mechanisms of Movement

A comprehensive review of the corticospinal and spinal contributions to the control of movement in human subjects.

Emmanuel Pierrot-Deseilligny (Author), David Burke (Author)

9780521192583, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 April 2012

630 pages, 127 b/w illus. 9 tables
25.2 x 19.4 x 3.1 cm, 1.48 kg

Studies of human movement have proliferated in recent years. This greatly expanded and thoroughly updated reference surveys the literature on the corticospinal control of spinal cord circuits in human subjects, showing how different circuits can be studied, their role in normal movement and how they malfunction in disease states. Chapters are highly illustrated and consistently organised, reviewing, for each pathway, the experimental background, methodology, organisation and control, role during motor tasks and changes in patients with CNS lesions. Each chapter concludes with a helpful résumé that can be used independently of the main text to provide practical guidance for clinical studies. The final four chapters bring together the changes in transmission in spinal and corticospinal pathways during movement and how they contribute to the desired movement. This book is essential reading for research workers and clinicians involved in the study, treatment and rehabilitation of movement disorders.

Preface
List of abbreviations
1. General methodology
2. Monosynaptic Ia excitation, homosynaptic depression, and transcortical Ia excitation
3. Fusimotor mechanisms, muscle spindles and their role in the control of movement
4. Recurrent inhibition
5. Reciprocal Ia inhibition
6. Ib pathways
7. Group II pathways
8. Presynaptic inhibition of Ia terminals
9. Cutaneomuscular, withdrawal and flexor reflex afferent ('FRA') responses
10. Propriospinal transmission of descending motor commands
11. Spinal and corticospinal pathways in different movements
12. Spinal and corticospinal pathways in stance and gait
13. Plasticity in spinal and corticospinal pathways
14. Contribution of spinal pathways to the pathophysiology of movement disorders
Index.

Subject Areas: Human biology [PSX], Regional physiology [MFGG], Cellular physiology [MFGC], Physiology [MFG], Anatomy [MFC]