Dr. Hui Zong
Education and background:
I received a medical degree from Heibei Medical University in 1983. From 1983 to 1991 I worked as attending physician and researcher in the Department of Emergency Medicine in Taian Central Hospital in China. In 1993 I joined Dr. Edgerton’s Neuromuscular Research Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles and am now a Project Scientist.
Research interests:
My research interest is in neuromuscular plasticity with an emphasis on skeletal muscle and motor unit physiology and plasticity and spinal cord plasticity related to chronic decreased levels of neuromuscular activity. My research also involves studying the effects of spinal cord epidural stimulation on improving motor function after a spinal cord injury or a stroke and with Parkinson Disease in animal models. I, along with Dr. Roy, am a primary animal surgeon in Dr. Edgerton laboratory. I have performed a variety of surgical procedures including spinal cord transection, isolation, and contusion; implantation of stimulation/recording electrodes and arrays epidurally in the spinal cord and brain; injection of stem cells into spinal cord; implantation of electromyographic recording electrodes in a variety of skeletal muscles; injection of retrograde/anterograde labels in the brain, spinal cord, and skeletal muscles; intrathecal cannula implantation, etc. in several animal species including mice, rats, cats, and monkeys.
Current projects:
Use of electromechanical stimulation of selected hindlimb muscles in rats using an implantable microstimulator (BION, Alfred Mann) to ameliorate the atrophy and mechanical and phenotypic adaptations induced by inactivity induced by spinal cord isolation.
Effects of spinal cord epidural stimulation in ameliorating chemically-induced Parkinson-like symptoms in rats.
Effects of epidural stimulation in improving the motor deficits associated with a photothrombotic ischemia in the motor cortex of nonhuman primates.
Effects of olfactory ensheathing cell implantation and epidural stimulation in facilitating axonal regeneartion and functional recovery after a complete thoracic spinal cord transection in rats.
Selected publications:
Roy, R.R., Talmadge, R.J., Hodgson, J.A., Zhong, H., Baldwin, K.M. and Edgerton, V.R. Training effects on soleus of cats spinal cord transected (T12-13) as adults. Muscle & Nerve 21:63-71, 1998.
Zhong, H., Roy, R.R., Hodgson, J.A., Talmadge, R.J., Grossman, E.J. and Edgerton, V.R. Activity-independent neural influences on cat soleus motor unit phenotypes. Muscle & Nerve 26:252-264, 2002.
Roy, R.R., Zhong, H., Monti, R.J, Vallance, K.A. and Edgerton, V.R. Mechanical properties of the electrically silent adult rat soleus muscle. Muscle & Nerve 26:404-412, 2002.
Zhong, H., Roy, R.R., Siengthai, B. and Edgerton, V.R. Effects of inactivity on fiber size and myonuclear number in rat soleus muscle. J Appl Physiol. 99: 1494-1499, 2005.
Courtine, G., Roy, R.R., Hodgson, J.A., Mckay, H., Yang, H., Zhong, H., Tuszynski, M.H. and Edgerton, V.R. Performance of locomotion and foot grasping following a unilateral thoracic corticospinal tract lesion in monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Brain 128(Pt 10):2338-58. 2005.
Lavrov, I.A., Gerasimenko, Y. P., Ichiyama, R.M., Courtine G. , Zhong, H., Roy, R.R., and Edgerton, V.R. Plasticity of spinal cord reflexes after a complete transection in adult rats: relationship to stepping ability. J Neurophysiol. 96(4):1699-710, 2006.
Zhong, H., Roy, R.R., Woo, J., Kim, J.A. and Edgerton, V.R. Differential modulation of myosin heavy chain phenotype in an inactive extensor and flexor muscle of adult rats. J Anat. 210(1):19-31. 2007.
Roy, R.R., Zhong, H., Khalili, N., Kim, S.J., Higuchi, N., Monti, R.J., Grossman, E., Hodgson, J.A., Edgerton, V.R. Is spinal cord isolation a good model of muscle disuse? Muscle Nerve. 35(3):312-21, 2007.
Courtine, G., Song, B., Roy, R.R., Zhong, H., Herrmann, J.E., Ao, Y., Qi, J., Edgerton, V.R., Sofroniew, M.V. Recovery of supraspinal control of stepping via indirect propriospinal relay connections after spinal cord injury. Nat Med.14(1):69-74, 2008.
Kubasak, M.D., Jindrich, D.L., Zhong, H., Takeoka, A., McFarland, K.C., Muñoz- Quiles, C., Roy, R.R., Edgerton, V.R., Ramón-Cueto, A., Phelps, P.E. OEG implantation and step training enhance hindlimb-stepping ability in adult spinal transected rats. Brain. 131(Pt 1):264-76, 2008.
Lavrov, I., Dy, C.J., Fong, A.J., Gerasimenko, Y., Courtine, G., Zhong, H., Roy, R.R., Edgerton, V.R. Epidural stimulation induced modulation of spinal locomotor networks in adult spinal rats. J Neurosci. 28(23):6022-9, 2008.
Ying, Z., Roy, R.R., Zhong, H., Zdunowski, S., Edgerton, V.R., Gomez-Pinilla, F. BDNF-exercise interactions in the recovery of symmetrical stepping after a cervical hemisection in rats. J Neurosci. 155(4):1070-8, 2008.
Courtine, G., Gerasimenko, Y., van den Brand, R., Yew, A., Musienko, P., Zhong, H., Song, B., Ao, Y., Ichiyama, R.M., Lavrov, I., Roy, R.R., Sofroniew, M.V., Edgerton, V.R. Transformation of nonfunctional spinal circuits into functional states after the loss of brain input. Nat Neurosci. (10):1333-42. 2009.
Takeoka, A., Kubasak, M.D., Zhong, H., Kaplan, J., Roy, R.R., Phelps, P.E.. Noradrenergic innervation of the rat spinal cord caudal to a complete spinal cord transection: Effects of olfactory ensheathing glia. Exp Neurol. 2009 Dec 16.
Ziegler MD, Zhong H, Roy RR, Edgerton VR. Why variability facilitates spinal learning. J Neurosci. 2010 Aug 11;30(32):10720-6.
Kim JA, Roy RR, Kim SJ, Zhong, H, Haddad F, Baldwin KM, Edgerton VR. Electromechanical modulation of catabolic and anabolic pathways in chronically inactive, but neurally intact, muscles. Muscle Nerve. 2010 Sep;42(3):410-21
Jindrich, DL, Courtine, G, Liu, JJ, McKay, HL, Moseanko, R, Bernot, TJ, Roy, RR, Zhong, H, Tuszynski, MH, Edgerton VR. Unconstrained three-dimensional reaching in Rhesus monkeys. Exp Brain Res. 2010 Dec 19.
Ichiyama, RM, Broman, J, Roy, RR, Zhong, H, Edgerton, VR, Havton, LA. Locomotor training maintains normal inhibitory influence on both alpha- and gamma-motoneurons after neonatal spinal cord transection. J Neurosci. 2011 Jan 5;31(1):26-33.
Zhong, H, Roy, RR, Nakada, KK, Zdunowsk,i S, Khalili, N, de Leon, RD, Edgerton, VR. Accommodation of the spinal cat to a tripping perturbation. Front Physiol. 3:112. 2012.
Gad, P, Woodbridge, J, Lavrov, I, Zhong, H, Roy, RR, Sarrafzadeh, M and Edgerton, VR. Forelimb EMG-based trigger to control an electronic spinal bridge to enable hindlimb stepping after a complete spinal cord lesion in rats. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 9:38. 2012.
Gad, P, Choe, J, Nandra, MS, Zhong, H, Roy, RR, Tai, YC, Edgerton, VR. Development of a multi-electrode array for spinal cord epidural stimulation to facilitate stepping and standing after a complete spinal cord injury in adult rats. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 21;10(1):2, 2013.
Shah, PK, Garcia-Alias, G, Choe, J, Gad, P, Gerasimenko, Y, Tillakaratne, N, Zhong, H, Roy, RR, Edgerton, VR. Use of quadrupedal step training to re-engage spinal interneuronal networks and improve locomotor function after spinal cord injury. Brain. 136(Pt 11):3362-77, 2013.
Tillakaratne, NJK, Durn, P, Fujino, Zhong, H, Xiao, MS, Edgerton, VR, Roy, RR. Identification of interneurons activated at different inclines during treadmill locomotion in adult rats. J Neuroeng Research. 92(12):1714-22, 2014.
Gad, P., Roy, RR., Choe, J., Zhong, H., Nandra, MS., Tai, YC., Gerasimenko, Y., and Edgerton, VR. “Electrophysiological mapping of rat sensorimotor lumbosacral spinal networks after complete paralysis.” Progress in brain research 218 (2015): 199-212.