Transcutaneous stimulation is a neuromodulation method that is efficiently used for recovery after spinal cord injury and other disorders that are accompanied by motor and sensory deficits. Multiple aspects of transcutaneous stimulation optimization still require testing in animal experiments including the use of pharmacological agents, spinal lesions, cell recording, etc. This need initially motivated us to develop a new approach of transvertebral spinal cord stimulation (SCS) and to test its feasibility in acute and chronic experiments on rats. The aims of the current work were to study the selectivity of muscle activation over the lower thoracic and lumbosacral spinal cord when the stimulating electrode was located intravertebrally and to compare its effectiveness to that of the clinically used transcutaneous stimulation. In decerebrated rats, electromyographic activity was recorded in the muscles of the back (m. longissimus dorsi), tail (m. abductor caudae dorsalis), and hindlimb (mm. iliacus, adductor magnus, vastus lateralis, semitendinosus, tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius medialis, soleus, and flexor hallucis longus) during SCS with an electrode placed alternately in one of the spinous processes of the VT12–VS1 vertebrae. The recruitment curves for motor and sensory components of the evoked potentials (separated from each other by means of double-pulse stimulation) were plotted for each muscle; their slopes characterized the effectiveness of the muscle activation. The electrophysiological mapping demonstrated that transvertebral SCS has specific effects to the rostrocaudally distributed sensorimotor network of the lower thoracic and lumbosacral cord, mainly by stimulation of the roots that carry the sensory and motor spinal pathways. These effects were compared in the same animals when mapping was performed by transcutaneous stimulation, and similar distribution of muscle activity and underlying neuroanatomical mechanisms were found. The experiments on chronic rats validated the feasibility of the proposed stimulation approach of transvertebral SCS for further studies.

中文翻译：

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通过经椎骨和经皮脊髓刺激绘制脊髓感觉运动网络


经皮刺激是一种神经调节方法，可有效用于脊髓损伤和其他伴有运动和感觉缺陷的疾病后的恢复。经皮刺激优化的多个方面仍需要在动物实验中进行测试，包括药物的使用、脊柱损伤、细胞记录等。这种需求最初促使我们开发一种新的经椎脊髓刺激（SCS）方法并测试其可行性在大鼠的急性和慢性实验中。当前工作的目的是研究当刺激电极位于椎体内时，肌肉激活对下胸椎和腰骶脊髓的选择性，并将其有效性与临床使用的经皮刺激的有效性进行比较。在去大脑大鼠中，记录了背部（背最长肌）、尾部（背尾展肌）和后肢（髂肌、大收肌、股外侧肌、半腱肌、胫骨前肌、腓肠肌内侧肌）的肌电活动。在 SCS 期间，将电极交替放置在 VT12-VS1 椎骨的棘突之一中。为每块肌肉绘制了诱发电位的运动和感觉成分（通过双脉冲刺激彼此分开）的募集曲线；它们的斜率表征了肌肉激活的有效性。电生理图表明，跨椎 SCS 对下胸椎和腰骶索的头尾分布的感觉运动网络具有特定作用，主要是通过刺激携带感觉和运动脊髓通路的根部。 当通过经皮刺激进行绘图时，在相同的动物中比较这些效果，发现肌肉活动的相似分布和潜在的神经解剖学机制。对慢性大鼠的实验验证了所提出的经椎体 SCS 刺激方法的可行性，以供进一步研究。