Development of an Electronic Bridge over the Lesion between Fore and Hind-limbs to Facilitate Quadrupedal Stepping after a Complete Spinal Cord Transection
V. Reggie Edgerton, Ph.D., UCLA
Professor, Departments of Neurobiology, Physiological Science and the Brain Research Institute

A complete spinal cord transection results in loss of all supraspinal motor control below the level of injury. The neural circuitry in the lumbosacral spinal cord, without any input from the brain, however, can generate locomotor patterns in the hindlimbs of rats and cats and in the legs of complete spinal human subjects with the aid of epidural stimulation (Iwahara et al., 1991; Dimitrijevic et al., 1998; Gerasimenko et al., 2003; Ichiyama et al., 2005). We hypothesize that there are patterns of the EMG signals from the forelimbs during quadrupedal locomotion that uniquely represents a signal for the intent to step. The objective of this project is to develop an electronic bridge across a complete mid-thoracic (T8) spinal cord transection in the rat that will be triggered by these specific patterns of EMG activity from the forelimbs to enable quadrupedal stepping.

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