Neuroprotective and Neurorestorative Processes after Spinal Cord Injury: ă The Case of the Bulbospinal Respiratory Neurons

International audienceHigh cervical spinal cord injuries interrupt the bulbospinal respiratory ă pathways projecting to the cervical phrenic motoneurons resulting in ă important respiratory defects. In the case of a lateralized injury that ă maintains the respiratory drive on the opposite side, a partial recovery ă of the ipsilateral respiratory function occurs spontaneously over time, ă as observed in animal models. The rodent respiratory system is therefore ă a relevant model to investigate the neuroplastic and neuroprotective ă mechanisms that will trigger such phrenic motoneurons reactivation by ă supraspinal pathways. Since part of this recovery is dependent on the ă damaged side of the spinal cord, the present review highlights our ă current understanding of the anatomical neuroplasticity processes that ă are developed by the surviving damaged bulbospinal neurons, notably ă axonal sprouting and rerouting. Such anatomical neuroplasticity relies ă also on coordinated molecular mechanisms at the level of the axotomized ă bulbospinal neurons that will promote both neuroprotection and axon ă growth