Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21384221›Full record

ReviewNeurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics2011

Plasticity after spinal cord injury: relevance to recovery and approaches to facilitate it.

Stephen M Onifer, George M Smith, Karim Fouad

Open access · bronzeAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
69citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.2field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

69 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 142 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Acute intermittent hypoxia in spinal cord injury gait rehabilitation: a systematic review of randomized trials.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Enhanced Reticulospinal Output in Subacute Spinal Cord Injury Patients with Spasticity.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Observational
  20. Article

9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Stephen M OniferSpinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, University of Kentucky, College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky 40536-0509, USA. smonif2@email.uky.edu
George M Smith
Karim Fouad
University of Kentucky · USUniversity of Alberta · CA

Funding

Reconstruction of the Nigrostriatal pathwayR01NS060784 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI SMITH, GEORGE M · 2009 to 2013
$1.6M
NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS060784
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Motor, sensory, and autonomic functions can spontaneously return or recover to varying extents in both humans and animals, regardless of the traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) level and whether it was complete or incomplete. In parallel, adverse and painful functions can appear. The underlying mechanisms for all of these diverse functional changes are summarized under the term plasticity. Our review will describe what is known regarding this phenomenon after traumatic SCI and focus on its relevance to motor and sensory recovery. Although it is still somewhat speculative, plasticity can be found throughout the neuraxis and includes various changes ranging from alterations in the properties of spared neuronal circuitries, intact or lesioned axon collateral sprouting, and synaptic rearrangements. Furthermore, we will discuss a selection of potential approaches for facilitating plasticity as possible SCI treatments. Because a mechanism underlying spontaneous plasticity and recovery might be motor activity and the related neuronal activity, activity-based therapies are being used and investigated both clinically and experimentally. Additional pharmacological and gene-delivery approaches, based on plasticity being dependent on the delicate balance between growth inhibition and promotion as well as the basic intrinsic growth ability of the neurons themselves, have been found to be effective alone and in combination with activity-based therapies. The positive results have to be tempered with the reality that not all plasticity is beneficial. Therefore, a tremendous number of questions still need to be addressed. Ultimately, answers to these questions will enhance plasticity's potential for improving the quality of life for persons with SCI.

Indexed as

AnimalsHumansNerve RegenerationNeuronal PlasticityRecovery of FunctionSpinal Cord Injuries

Identifiers

PMID21384221
PMCPMC3101826
OpenAlexW2108835750

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.