The journal of spinal cord medicine
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Upper cervical spinal cord hemisection causes paralysis of the ipsilateral hemidiaphragm; however, the effect of C2 hemisection on the function of the intercostal muscles is not clear. We hypothesized that C2 hemisection would eliminate inspiratory intercostal activity ipsilateral to the injury and that some activity would return in a time-dependent manner. ⋯ These results suggest that there are crossed, initially latent, respiratory connections to neurons innervating the intercostal muscles similar to those innervating phrenic motor neurons.