Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Spasticity: a switch from inhibition to excitation

The involuntary muscle spasms that occur as a result of neuromotor disorders and spinal cord injury can have dangerous consequences for affected individuals. New findings shed light on one mechanism contributing to spasticity: limited chloride transport in motoneurons (pages 302–307).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Spasticity results from changes in the regulation of intracellular chloride ions in motoneurons.

Katie Vicari

References

  1. Harkema, S.J. et al. J. Neurophysiol. 77, 797–811 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Boulenguez, P. et al. Nat. Med. 16, 302–307 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Malhotra, S., Pandyan, A.D., Day, C.R., Jones, P.W. & Hermens, H. Clin. Rehabil. 23, 651–658 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Norton, J.A., Bennett, D.J., Knash, M.E., Murray, K.C. & Gorassini, M.A. Brain 131, 1478–1491 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Heckmann, C.J., Gorassini, M.A. & Bennett, D.J. Muscle Nerve 31, 135–156 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lu, Y., Zheng, J., Xiong, L., Zimmermann, M. & Yang, J. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 586, 5701–5715 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Elbasiouny, S.M., Moroz, D., Bakr, M.M. & Mushahwar, V.K. Neurorehabil. Neural Repair 24, 23–33 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. de Leon, R.D., Tamaki, H., Hodgson, J.A., Roy, R.R. & Edgerton, V.R. J. Neurophysiol. 82, 359–369 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to V Reggie Edgerton.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Edgerton, V., Roy, R. Spasticity: a switch from inhibition to excitation. Nat Med 16, 270–271 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0310-270

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0310-270

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing