Epidural electrical stimulation effectively restores locomotion function in rats with complete spinal cord injury  

作　　者：Song Wang Li-Cheng Zhang Hai-Tao Fu Jun-Hao Deng Gao-Xiang Xu Tong Li Xin-Ran Ji Pei-Fu Tang 

机构地区：[1]School of Medicine,Nankai University,Tianjin,China [2]Department of Orthopedics,Chinese PLA General Hospital,Beijing,China [3]Department of Orthopedics,The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University,Qingdao,Shandong Province,China [4]Characteristic Medical Center of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force,Tianjin,China

出　　处：《Neural Regeneration Research》2021年第3期573-579,共7页中国神经再生研究（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,Nos.81601052(to XRJ),81520108017(to PFT);the Beijing Nova Program of Science and Technology of China,No.2018034(to XRJ);the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Project of China,No.D16100002816005(to PFT);the Subsidiary of PLA Major Project of China,No.AWS17J004(to PFT)。

摘　　要：Epidural electrical stimulation can restore limb motor function after spinal cord injury by reactivating the surviving neural circuits.In previous epidural electrical stimulation studies,single electrode sites and continuous tetanic stimulation have often been used.With this stimulation,the body is prone to declines in tolerance and locomotion coordination.In the present study,rat models of complete spinal cord injury were established by vertically cutting the spinal cord at the T8 level to eliminate disturbance from residual nerve fibers,and were then subjected to epidural electrical stimulation.The flexible extradural electrode had good anatomical topology and matched the shape of the spinal canal of the implanted segment.Simultaneously,the electrode stimulation site was able to be accurately applied to the L2–3 and S1 segments of the spinal cord.To evaluate the biocompatibility of the implanted epidural electrical stimulation electrodes,GFAP/Iba-1 doublelabeled immunofluorescence staining was performed on the spinal cord below the electrodes at 7 days after the electrode implantation.Immunofluorescence results revealed no significant differences in the numbers or morphologies of microglia and astrocytes in the spinal cord after electrode implantation,and there was no activated Iba-1~+cell aggregation,indicating that the implant did not cause an inflammatory response in the spinal cord.Rat gait analysis showed that,at 3 days after surgery,gait became coordinated in rats with spinal cord injury under burst stimulation.The regained locomotion could clearly distinguish the support phase and the swing phase and dynamically adjust with the frequency of stimulus distribution.To evaluate the matching degree between the flexible epidural electrode(including three stimulation contacts),vertebral morphology,and the level of the epidural site of the stimulation electrode,micro-CT was used to scan the thoracolumbar vertebrae of rats before and after electrode implantation.Based on the experimental results of gait recover

关 键 词：behavior INJURY model neurological function rat recovery REGENERATION repair spinal cord 

分 类 号：R459.9[医药卫生—治疗学] R363[医药卫生—临床医学]