NIH Reporter #1R21NS131962-01A1

Respiratory motor control in the intact and injured spinal cord

The project studies respiratory motor control and its changes after cervical spinal cord injury in rats, aiming to identify neural modules and develop biomarkers to predict respiratory recovery.

Description

This project aims to evaluate the mechanisms of respiratory control using the concept of the modular organization of motor systems. It includes electrophysiological recordings of respiratory muscles in behaving rats and mathematical analysis to identify modules responsible for controlling different respiratory behaviors. The study will employ a C2 spinal cord hemisection model in rats, recording electromyograms (EMG) from multiple respiratory muscles, and applying independent component analysis (ICA) to identify neural modules and synergies. The research will characterize respiratory modules during various behaviors, assess changes post-SCI, and correlate modules with recovery outcomes.

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