Independent replication of motor cortex and cervical spinal cord electrical stimulation to promote forelimb motor function after spinal cord injury in rats.

ABSTRACT: Cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) impairs arm and hand function largely by interrupting descending tracts. Most SCI spare some axons at the lesion, including the corticospinal tract (CST), which is critical for voluntary movement. We targeted descending motor connections with paired electrical stimulation of motor cortex and cervical spinal cord in the rat. We sought to replicate the previously published effects of intermittent theta burst stimulation of forelimb motor cortex combined with trans-spinal direct current stimulation placed on the skin over the neck to target the cervical enlargement. We hypothesized that paired stimulation would improve performance in skilled walking and food manipulation (IBB) tasks. Rats received a moderate C4 spinal cord contusion injury (200 kDynes), which

SUBMITTER: Yang Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7035596 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature