Transcutaneous spinal stimulation alters cortical and subcortical activation patterns during mimicked-standing: A proof-of-concept fMRI study

What Else Can Be Done by the Spinal Cord? A Review on the Effectiveness of Transpinal Direct Current Stimulation (tsDCS) in Stroke Recovery

Since the spinal cord has traditionally been considered a bundle of long fibers connecting the brain to all parts of the body, the study of its role has long been limited to peripheral sensory and motor control. However, in recent years, new studies have challenged this view pointing to the spinal cord's involvement not only in the acquisition and maintenance of new motor skills but also in the modulation of motor and cognitive functions dependent on cortical motor regions. Indeed, several reports to date, which have combined neurophysiological techniques with transpinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS), have shown that tsDCS is effective in promoting local and cortical neuroplasticity changes in animals and humans through the activation of ascending corticospinal pathways that modulate the sensorimotor cortical networks. The aim of this paper is first to report the most prominent tsDCS studies on neuroplasticity and its influence at the cortical level. Then, a comprehensive review of tsDCS literature on motor improvement in animals and healthy subjects and on motor and cognitive recovery in post-stroke populations is presented. We believe that these findings might have an important impact in the future making tsDCS a potential suitable adjunctive approach for post-stroke recovery.

Cervical transcutaneous spinal stimulation for spinal motor mapping

Transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS) is a promising approach to restore upper-limb (UL) functions after spinal cord injury (SCI) in humans. We sought to demonstrate the selectivity of recruitment of individual UL motor pools during cervical TSS using different electrode placements. We demonstrated that TSS delivered over the rostrocaudal and mediolateral axes of the cervical spine resulted in a preferential activation of proximal, distal, and ipsilateral UL muscles. This was revealed by changes in motor threshold intensity, maximum amplitude, and the amount of post-activation depression of the evoked responses. We propose that an arrangement of electrodes targeting specific UL motor pools may result in superior efficacy, restoring more diverse motor activities after neurological injuries and disorders, including severe SCI.

Effects of transcutaneous spinal stimulation on spatiotemporal cortical activation patterns: A proof-of-concept EEG study

OBJECTIVE

Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (TSS) has been shown to be a promising non-invasive alternative to epidural spinal cord stimulation (ESS) for improving outcomes of people with spinal cord injury (SCI). However, studies on the effects of TSS on cortical activation are limited. Our objectives were to evaluate the spatiotemporal effects of TSS on brain activity, and determine changes in functional connectivity under several different stimulation conditions. As a control, we also assessed the effects of functional electrical stimulation (FES) on cortical activity.

APPROACH

Non-invasive scalp electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded during TSS or FES while five neurologically intact participants performed one of three lower-limb tasks while in the supine position: (1) A no contraction control task, (2) a rhythmic contraction task, or (3) a tonic contraction task. After EEG denoising and segmentation, independent components were clustered across subjects to characterize sensorimotor networks in the time and frequency domains. Independent components of the event related potentials (ERPs) were calculated for each cluster and condition. Next, a Generalized Partial Directed Coherence (gPDC) analysis was performed on each cluster to compare the functional connectivity between conditions and tasks.

RESULTS

Independent Component analysis of EEG during TSS resulted in three clusters identified at Brodmann areas (BA) 9, BA 6, and BA 4, which are areas associated with working memory, planning, and movement control. Lastly, we found significant (p < 0.05, adjusted for multiple comparisons) increases and decreases in functional connectivity of clusters during TSS, but not during FES when compared to the no stimulation conditions.

SIGNIFICANCE

The findings from this study provide evidence of how TSS recruits cortical networks during tonic and rhythmic lower limb movements. These results have implications for the development of spinal cord-based computer interfaces, and the design of neural stimulation devices for the treatment of pain and sensorimotor deficit.