ArticlePLoS biology2015
Simultaneous Brain-Cervical Cord fMRI Reveals Intrinsic Spinal Cord Plasticity during Motor Sequence Learning.
Article in PLoS biology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
66 citing papers in PubMed, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
- Robust enhancement of motor sequence learning with 4 mA transcranial electric stimulation.Brain stimulationTrial
- Neurorehabilitation in the 21st Century: New Science, New Strategies, New Expectations.Neurorehabilitation and neural repair · 2026Review
- Network-oriented neurorehabilitation after stroke: a paradigmatic approach.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2026Review
- Differential changes in the effective neural drive following new motor skill acquisition between vastus lateralis and medialis.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Interleaved premotor rTMS does not affect motor sequence learning.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Test-Retest Reliability of Sensorimotor Activity Measured With Spinal Cord fMRI.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Spinal cord structural and functional architecture and its shared organization with the brain across the adult lifespan.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Medullary and C3-C4 propriospinal pathways underlying mammalian forelimb movement control.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Increased cervical spinal cord signal intensity corresponds to specific cerebellar and cerebral functional changes in degenerative cervical myelopathy patients.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A corticospinal signature for interindividual pain sensitivity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Simultaneous zero echo time fMRI of rat brain and spinal cord.Magnetic resonance in medicine · 2025Article
- CoSpine open access simultaneous cortico-spinal fMRI database of thermal pain and motor tasks.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Spine-Prints: Transposing Brain Fingerprints to the Spinal Cord.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Simultaneous zero echo time fMRI of rat brain and spinal cord.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- EPISeg: Automated segmentation of the spinal cord on echo planar images using open-access multi-center data.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Dose-response of tDCS effects on motor learning and cortical excitability: A preregistered study.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Mapping hand function with simultaneous brain-spinal cord functional MRI.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Review
- A multichannel electrophysiological approach to noninvasively and precisely record human spinal cord activity.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Contributions of the sensory system to motor learning : Focus on Cerebral Palsy.Pediatric research · 2024Article
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The spinal cord participates in the execution of skilled movements by translating high-level cerebral motor representations into musculotopic commands. Yet, the extent to which motor skill acquisition relies on intrinsic spinal cord processes remains unknown. To date, attempts to address this question were limited by difficulties in separating spinal local effects from supraspinal influences through traditional electrophysiological and neuroimaging methods. Here, for the first time, we provide evidence for local learning-induced plasticity in intact human spinal cord through simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and spinal cord during motor sequence learning. Specifically, we show learning-related modulation of activity in the C6-C8 spinal region, which is independent from that of related supraspinal sensorimotor structures. Moreover, a brain-spinal cord functional connectivity analysis demonstrates that the initial linear relationship between the spinal cord and sensorimotor cortex gradually fades away over the course of motor sequence learning, while the connectivity between spinal activity and cerebellum gains strength. These data suggest that the spinal cord not only constitutes an active functional component of the human motor learning network but also contributes distinctively from the brain to the learning process. The present findings open new avenues for rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injuries, as they demonstrate that this part of the central nervous system is much more plastic than assumed before. Yet, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this intrinsic functional plasticity in the spinal cord warrant further investigations.
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Registered trials
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.