Background. Epidural stimulation of the spinal cord can reorganize and change the excitability of the neural circuitry to facilitate stepping in rats with a complete spinal cord injury. Parkinson’s disease results in abnormal supraspinal signals from the brain to the spinal cord that affect the functional capacity of the spinal networks. Objective. The objective was to determine whether epidural stimulation (electrical enabling motor control, eEmc) of the lumbosacral spinal cord can reorganize the spinal networks to facilitate hindlimb stepping of rats with parkinsonism. Methods. A unilateral 6-OHDA (6-hydroxydopamine) lesion of the nigrostriatal pathway was used to induce parkinsonism. Sham rats (N = 4) were injected in the same region with 0.1% of ascorbic acid. Stimulation electrodes were implanted epidurally at the L2 and S1 (N = 5) or L2 (N = 5) spinal levels. Results. The 6-OHDA rats showed severe parkinsonism in cylinder and adjusting step tests and were unable to initiate stepping when placed in a running wheel and dragged their toes on the affected side during treadmill stepping. During eEmc, the 6-OHDA rats initiated stepping in the running wheel and demonstrated improved stepping quality. Conclusion. Stepping was facilitated in rats with parkinsonism with spinal cord stimulation. The underlying assumption is that the normal functional capacity of spinal networks is affected by supraspinal pathology associated with Parkinson’s disease, which either generates insufficient or abnormal descending input to spinal networks and that eEmc can appropriately modulate spinal and supraspinal networks to improve the motor deficits.

中文翻译：

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硬膜外脊髓刺激改善化学诱导帕金森病大鼠的运动功能

背景。脊髓的硬膜外刺激可以重组和改变神经回路的兴奋性，以促进脊髓完全损伤的大鼠迈步。帕金森病会导致从大脑到脊髓的异常脊髓信号，影响脊髓网络的功能。客观的。目的是确定腰骶脊髓的硬膜外刺激（电驱动运动控制，eEmc）是否可以重组脊髓网络，以促进帕金森症大鼠的后肢迈步。方法。黑质纹状体通路的单侧 6-OHDA（6-羟基多巴胺）损伤用于诱发帕金森症。假手术大鼠 (N = 4) 在同一区域注射 0.1% 的抗坏血酸。刺激电极通过硬膜外植入 L2 和 S1 (N = 5) 或 L2 (N = 5) 脊髓水平。结果。6-OHDA 大鼠在气缸和调整步测试中表现出严重的帕金森氏症，并且在将其置于跑步轮上时无法开始迈步，并在跑步机上迈步时在受影响的一侧拖动脚趾。在 eEmc 期间，6-OHDA 大鼠开始在跑轮上迈步，并表现出迈步质量的改善。结论。通过脊髓刺激，帕金森病大鼠的行走变得更加容易。基本假设是脊柱网络的正常功能受到与帕金森病相关的脊柱上病理的影响，