Summary
There is to date no therapy that prevents the devastating consequences of traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. Previous work has shown that neuronal connections can spontaneously remodel after CNS injuries, a process that contributes to functional recovery. Here, we propose that the balance between adaptive and maladaptive neuronal remodeling depends on circuit refinement and is guided by the interplay between neuronal activity and microglia-driven synapse removal. We aim to identify the checkpoints for circuit refinement and reveal whether such checkpoints are maintained between different injury types and locations.
