ArticleJournal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation2014
Electronic bypass of spinal lesions: activation of lower motor neurons directly driven by cortical neural signals.
Article in Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Fidelity Paradox in Spinal Cord Injury: Reframing Biomechanical Mimicry and Neurobiological Relevance for Clinical Translation.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Review
- A Review of Functional Restoration From Spinal Cord Stimulation in Patients With Spinal Cord Injury.Neurospine · 2022Article
- Development of a battery-free ultrasonically powered functional electrical stimulator for movement restoration after paralyzing spinal cord injury.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2019Article
- [Selective control of hindlimb movements based on intraspinal functional electronic stimulation].Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi · 2018Article
- Reconstructing the severed spinal cord.Surgical neurology international · 2017Article
- Robotics in Lower-Limb Rehabilitation after Stroke.Behavioural neurology · 2017Review
- Implantation of 3D Constructs Embedded with Oral Mucosa-Derived Cells Induces Functional Recovery in Rats with Complete Spinal Cord Transection.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLower motor neurons in the spinal cord lose supraspinal inputs after complete spinal cord injury, leading to a loss of volitional control below the injury site. Extensive locomotor training with spinal cord stimulation can restore locomotion function after spinal cord injury in humans and animals. However, this locomotion is non-voluntary, meaning that subjects cannot control stimulation via their natural "intent". A recent study demonstrated an advanced system that triggers a stimulator using forelimb stepping electromyographic patterns to restore quadrupedal walking in rats with spinal cord transection. However, this indirect source of "intent" may mean that other non-stepping forelimb activities may false-trigger the spinal stimulator and thus produce unwanted hindlimb movements.
methodsWe hypothesized that there are distinguishable neural activities in the primary motor cortex during treadmill walking, even after low-thoracic spinal transection in adult guinea pigs. We developed an electronic spinal bridge, called "Motolink", which detects these neural patterns and triggers a "spinal" stimulator for hindlimb movement. This hardware can be head-mounted or carried in a backpack. Neural data were processed in real-time and transmitted to a computer for analysis by an embedded processor. Off-line neural spike analysis was conducted to calculate and preset the spike threshold for "Motolink" hardware.
resultsWe identified correlated activities of primary motor cortex neurons during treadmill walking of guinea pigs with spinal cord transection. These neural activities were used to predict the kinematic states of the animals. The appropriate selection of spike threshold value enabled the "Motolink" system to detect the neural "intent" of walking, which triggered electrical stimulation of the spinal cord and induced stepping-like hindlimb movements.
conclusionWe present a direct cortical "intent"-driven electronic spinal bridge to restore hindlimb locomotion after complete spinal cord injury.
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