Cuneiform Nucleus Stimulation Can Assist Gait Training to Promote Locomotor Recovery in Individuals With Incomplete Tetraplegia.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Impaired ability to induce stepping after incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) can limit the efficacy of locomotor training, often leaving patients wheelchair-bound. The cuneiform nucleus (CNF), a key mesencephalic locomotor control center, modulates the activity of spinal locomotor centers via the reticulospinal tract. Even with severe corticospinal damage, the widely distributed reticulospinal fibers frequently cross the lesion, and lumbosacral spinal locomotor centers remain responsive. Unilateral deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the CNF (CNF-DBS) can increase modulatory input to sublesional locomotor centers and was shown to induce stepping and promote locomotor recovery in rodent models of severe incomplete SCI. Given the evolutionarily conserved CNF-reticulospinal sys

SUBMITTER: Hofer AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12946608 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature