BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Findings of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional MR (fMR) imaging of the cervical spinal cord, obtained by using a fist-clenching motor task, have been sporadically reported. Because spinal activation by sensory stimuli has a potential at least equal to that of fist clenching, its feasibility was assessed. Whether stimulation of the median nerve could evoke an f...

25 The relationships between the stimulation frequency and the force developed by motor units 26 (MUs) of the medial gastrocnemius muscle were compared between intact rats and animals 27 after total transection or hemisection of the spinal cord at low thoracic level. The experiments 28 on functionally isolated MUs were carried out two weeks, one, three and six months after the 29 spinal cord in...

A functional electrical stimulation system with surface electrodes and four stimulation channels was developed. The proposed system was used to design two neural prostheses for spinal cord injured subjects and stroke subjects. One prosthesis was used to restore a grasping function in high lesioned tetraplegic subjects. The other prosthesis was used to eliminate the ‘drop foot’ problem in incomp...

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a long-term recurrent disease caused by somatosensory nervous system injury, with spontaneous pain, hyperalgesia, ectopic and paresthesia as the main clinical manifestations. It adversely affects patients' quality of life. NP treatments often include medication, physical therapy, invasive therapy; first two therapies are generally ineffective for some patients. These pa...

The mammalian lumbar spinal cord has the capability to generate locomotor activity in the absence of input from the brain. Previously, we reported that transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the spinal cord at vertebral level T11 can activate the locomotor circuitry in noninjured subjects when their legs are placed in a gravity-neutral position (Gorodnichev RM, Pivovarova EA, Pukhov A, Moisee...