Cerebral Palsy – University of Copenhagen

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Neural Control of Movement - Copenhagen > Research > Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy

We have a close collaboration with the Helene Elsass Center (www.elsasscenter.dk) with the purpose of developing an active and inspiring cerebral palsy (CP) research environment in the Copenhagen area. We consequently actively pursue collaborative projects with CP researchers, therapists and departments in the Copenhagen area.  Our research activities cover research into

  • a) the aethiology and pathogenesis of CP in rat and mouse models of CP,
  • b) mechanisms of neuroplasticity in relation to development and recovery of function,
  • c) facilitation of development and recovery of function in animal models of CP through various interventions (nutrition, exercise) ,
  • d) development and evaluation of new interventions for treatment of children with CP,
  • e) the role of nutrition in children with CP,
  • f) development of functional outcome measures in children with CP,
  • g) body perception and agency in children with CP,
  • h) optimization of interventions in children with CP.

Aethiology and pathogenesis of CP
In order to explore the aethiology and pathogenesis we are doing anatomical, histochemical, electrophysiological and behavioural studies on a newly developed rat and mouse model of CP

Mechanisms of neuroplasticity

We are studying neuroplastic changes during development in rat and mouse models of CP

Facilitation of development of function

We test a number of different interventions in rat and mouse models of CP.

Development and evaluation of new interventions

We use a number of outcome measures to evaluate different interventions in collaboration with the Helene Elsass center. The main focus right now is the web-based, home-training system called Move It To Improve It, which  has been developed by the Helene Elsass center. We are conducting several controlled clinical studies to evaluate the ability of the system in training cognitive, perceptual and motor abilities in children with CP as well as adults with stroke.

Role of nutrition in children with CP

Several animal studies have documented positive effects of specific types of nutrients on neurological factors, e.g. memory, attention and increased ability to acquire motor skills. Therefore, our group is researching the diet intake in the group of CP children. Furthermore, we are looking at the combination of nutrition intake and physical activity. One of our newly started projects that explore the effects of nutrition combined with exercise is Project Brain Drops. 

Functional outcome measures

We are developing a number of outcome measures for physiological and functional assessment of intervention in children with CP such as corticomuscular coherence, intermuscular coherence, cortico-cortical muscular coherence, f-MRI and DTI.

Body perception and agency in children with CP

Body perception and the sense of agency, that is the sense of being in control of your own movements, is related to the ability to understand one’s own body/movements and integrate the predicted consequences of movements with the sensory feedback. Our research investigate the perception of the CP children's own body and movements by looking at the agency sensation. Furthermore, we are looking at the effects of an improved body perception after participation in a rehabilitation training program.

Optimization of interventions in children with CP

We attempt to use knowledge derived from our research on motor learning and neuroplasticity to optimize existing training programmes for children with CP. We are especially interested in the consolidation period following training and the possibilities of reinforcing the learned behaviour during this period.

Research group members:
Tue Hvass Petersen (Coordinator)
Louise Jakobsen
Jens Bo Nielsen
Nicolas Petersen
Marc Roig
Anina Rosenbaum
Kasper Skriver
Maria Willerslev-Olsen