| The
brain is a highly dynamic organ that is capable of structural
and functional reorganization in response to a variety of manipulations.
This neural plasticity is the mechanism by which the brain encodes
experience. My laboratory examines how plasticity within rat
and human motor cortex supports learning in the intact brain
and “relearning” after stroke. We use intracortical
microstimulation in rats and transcranial magnetic stimulation
in humans to examine how motor training alters the functional
organization of motor cortex. This work has demonstrated that
rehabilitation-dependent recovery of motor function after stroke
is associated with a reorganization of movement representations
in rodent motor cortex. Furthermore, there are specific behavioral
and neural signals that drive both recovery and plasticity.
These experiments are being used to test novel therapies for
enhancing motor recovery in stroke patients. |
Recent
Publications
BDNF
val/met66 polymorphism is associated with modified experience-dependent
plasticity of human motor cortex. Kleim, JA, Chan, S, Pringle,
E, Procaccio, V, Jimenez, R, Cramer, S .Nat Neurosc, 2006, in
press.
In search of the motor engram: motor map plasticity as a mechanism
for encoding motor experience. Monfils MH, Plautz EJ, Kleim
JA. Neuroscientist. 2005 Oct;11(5):471-83.
Basic fibroblast growth factor stimulates functional recovery
after neonatal lesions of motor cortex in rats.
Monfils MH, Driscoll I, Vandenberg PM, Thomas NJ, Danka
D, Kleim JA, Kolb B. Neuroscience. 2005;134(1):1-8.
Cortical
synaptogenesis and motor map reorganization occur during late,
but not early, phase of motor skill learning. Kleim JA,
Hogg TM, VandenBerg PM, Cooper NR, Bruneau R, Remple M. J Neuroscience.
2004 Jan 21;24(3):628-33.
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