ArticlebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2025
Electrode position, size, and orientation determine efficacy of cervical epidural stimulation to recruit forelimb muscles in rats.
Article in bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Targeting sodium channels - challenges for acute pain and the leap to chronic pain.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Objective: Cervical epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) can facilitate upper-limb motor recovery, but electrode configurations that optimally recruit motor circuits remain unclear. This study systematically evaluated how electrode position, size, orientation, and waveform influence the efficacy of forelimb motor activation in rats, with the goal of identifying configurations that minimize stimulation thresholds of evoked responses across multiple muscles. Approach: Custom microfabricated arrays of electrodes were implanted over the C6 dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) in eight adult female Sprague Dawley rats. A circular array was used to vary current orientation in 45° increments, while a linear array was used to optimize mediolateral electrode position. The linear array included both small (250 μm) and large (500 μm) contacts to assess size effects at mediolateral positions. Stimulation consisted of biphasic and pseudomonophasic waveforms with bipolar or distant return, and a high-definition montage to probe spatial focality around the DREZ. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) recorded via implanted EMG electrodes were analyzed in six forelimb muscles. Thresholds, estimated from recruitment curves using a hierarchical Bayesian model, were compared within-rat using pairwise t-tests with correction for multiple comparisons. Results: Stimulation over the DREZ yielded the lowest thresholds and efficacy decreased progressively with medial or lateral displacement relative to DREZ. In the circular array, rostro-caudal current orientation was most effective, reducing thresholds by up to 58% relative to latero-medial orientation ( Significance: Maximum efficacy was achieved for cervical SCS with electrodes positioned over the DREZ, rostro-caudal current flow, larger contacts, and cathodal stimulation. These design principles that more effectively engage spinal circuitry could reduce the current required and thereby improve SCS systems for upper-limb motor restoration.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.