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Development of an Activity-Dependent Epidural Stimulation System in Freely Moving Spinal Cord Injured Rats: A Proof of Concept Study

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, July 2018
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Title
Development of an Activity-Dependent Epidural Stimulation System in Freely Moving Spinal Cord Injured Rats: A Proof of Concept Study
Published in
Frontiers in Neuroscience, July 2018
DOI 10.3389/fnins.2018.00472
Pubmed ID
Authors

Avi Rascoe, Pawan Sharma, Prithvi K. Shah

Abstract

Purpose: Extensive pre-clinical and clinical experimentation has yielded data on the robustness and versatility of epidural stimulation (ES) strategies to activate spinal neural circuitry to produce functional benefits. Increasing studies are now reporting that closed-loop electrical stimulation delivery methods significantly enhance the neuromodulation effects of stimulation, to in turn, improve physiological outcomes of the intervention. No studies have yet explored the feasibility and usage of closed-loop systems to neuromodulate the cervical spinal cord using ES. Methods: We developed an activity-dependent system that utilizes electromyography (EMG) activity to trigger epidural stimulation (tES) of the cervical spinal cord in awake, freely moving rats. Experiments were performed on rats that were implanted with chronic forelimb EMG and cervical epidural implants, with (n = 7) and without (n = 2) a complete C4 spinal hemisection. Results: Our results show that the EMG triggered activity-dependent system can be reliably applied and reproduced for: (i) stimulating multiple rats simultaneously throughout the night during free home-cage activity and (ii) use as a mobile system for testing and training during various short-term behavioral testing conditions. The system was able to consistently generate stimulation pulse trains in response to attempted EMG activity that crossed a user-defined threshold in all rats for all experiments, including the overnight experiments that lasts for 7 h/session for 6 days/week through the 3-month period. Conclusion: The developed closed-loop system can be considered to represent a class of bidirectional neural prostheses via a circuit that enables two-way interactions between neural activity (real-time processing of EMG activity) and external devices (such as a stimulator). It can operate autonomously for extended periods of time in unrestrained rats, allowing its use as a long-term therapeutic tool. It can also enable us to study the long-term physiological effects of incorporating electrical stimulation techniques into the nervous system. The system can also be experimented for connecting several neural systems into a Brainet by combining neural signals from multiple rats dynamically and in real-time so as to enhance motor performance. Studies are ongoing in our laboratory to test the usefulness of this system in the recovery of hand function after cervical spinal cord injuries.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 47 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 47 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 9 19%
Student > Ph. D. Student 6 13%
Student > Bachelor 5 11%
Researcher 5 11%
Student > Postgraduate 2 4%
Other 3 6%
Unknown 17 36%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 9 19%
Neuroscience 5 11%
Engineering 5 11%
Nursing and Health Professions 4 9%
Sports and Recreations 3 6%
Other 4 9%
Unknown 17 36%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 July 2018.
All research outputs
#19,954,338
of 25,385,509 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Neuroscience
#8,672
of 11,542 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#249,367
of 340,859 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Neuroscience
#201
of 237 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,385,509 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 18th percentile – i.e., 18% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 11,542 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 11.0. This one is in the 18th percentile – i.e., 18% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 340,859 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 237 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 7th percentile – i.e., 7% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.