Generating artificial sensations with spinal cord stimulation in primates and rodents. Brain Stimul 2021;14(4):825-836
Date
05/21/2021Pubmed ID
34015518Pubmed Central ID
PMC8316418DOI
10.1016/j.brs.2021.04.024Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85106366436 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 8 CitationsAbstract
For patients who have lost sensory function due to a neurological injury such as spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke, or amputation, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) may provide a mechanism for restoring somatic sensations via an intuitive, non-visual pathway. Inspired by this vision, here we trained rhesus monkeys and rats to detect and discriminate patterns of epidural SCS. Thereafter, we constructed psychometric curves describing the relationship between different SCS parameters and the animal's ability to detect SCS and/or changes in its characteristics. We found that the stimulus detection threshold decreased with higher frequency, longer pulse-width, and increasing duration of SCS. Moreover, we found that monkeys were able to discriminate temporally- and spatially-varying patterns (i.e. variations in frequency and location) of SCS delivered through multiple electrodes. Additionally, sensory discrimination of SCS-induced sensations in rats obeyed Weber's law of just-noticeable differences. These findings suggest that by varying SCS intensity, temporal pattern, and location different sensory experiences can be evoked. As such, we posit that SCS can provide intuitive sensory feedback in neuroprosthetic devices.
Author List
Yadav AP, Li S, Krucoff MO, Lebedev MA, Abd-El-Barr MM, Nicolelis MALAuthor
Max O. Krucoff MD Assistant Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsHumans
Primates
Rats
Rodentia
Sensation
Spinal Cord
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal Cord Stimulation
