Title:
Selective surface activation of motor circuitry in the injured spinal cord

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dc.contributor.advisor Hochman, Shawn
dc.contributor.advisor DeWeerth, Stephen P.
dc.contributor.author Meacham, Kathleen Williams en_US
dc.contributor.committeeMember Lena Ting
dc.contributor.committeeMember Butera, Robert J.
dc.contributor.committeeMember Robert Lee
dc.contributor.committeeMember Vivian K. Mushahwar
dc.contributor.department Biomedical Engineering en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2009-01-22T15:46:48Z
dc.date.available 2009-01-22T15:46:48Z
dc.date.issued 2008-08-25 en_US
dc.description.abstract Access to and subsequent control of spinal cord function are critical considerations for design of optimal therapeutic strategies for SCI patients. Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord is capable of activating behaviorally-relevant populations of neurons for recovery of function, and is therefore an attractive target for potential devices. A promising method for accessing these spinal circuits is through their axons, which are organized as longitudinal columns of white matter funiculi along the cord exterior. For this thesis, I hypothesized that these funiculi can be selectively recruited via electrodes appropriately placed on the surface of the spinal cord, for functional activation of relevant motor circuitry in a chronically-transected spinal cord. My tandem design goal was to fabricate and implement a conformable multi-electrode array (MEA) that would enable this selective stimulation. To accomplish this design goal, I participated in the design, fabrication, and electromechanical testing of a conformable MEA for surface stimulation of spinal tracts. I then assessed the fundamental capability of this MEA technology to stimulate white matter tracts in a precise, controlled, and functionally-relevant manner. This was accomplished via in vitro experiments that explored the ability of this MEA to locally activate axons via single- and dual-site surface stimulation. The results from these evaluation studies suggest that spinal-cord surface stimulation with this novel MEA technology can provide discrete, minimally-damaging activation of spinal systems via their white matter tracts. To test my hypothesis that surface stimulation can be used to recruit distinct populations in the spinal cord, I performed studies that stimulated lateral funiculi in both chronically-transected and intact in vitro spinal cords. Results from these studies reveal that selective surface stimulation of white matter tracts in the ventrolateral funiculus (VLF) elicit motor outputs not elicited in intact cords. In addition, I was able to demonstrate that the spinal systems activated by this surface stimulation involve synaptic components and are responsive to spatial, temporal, and pharmacologic facilitation. Corresponding labeling of the axonal tracts projecting through the T12 VLF indicate that, after chronic transection, the remaining spinal neurons whose axons travel through the VLF include those with cell bodies in both the intermediate region and dorsal horn. These electrophysiological results show that surface-stimulating technologies used to control motor function after injury should include focal activation of interneuronal systems with axons in the ventrolateral funiculus. As a whole, these studies provide essential starting points for further use of conformable MEAs to effectively activate and control spinal cord function from the surface of the spinal cord. en_US
dc.description.degree Ph.D. en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/26571
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology en_US
dc.subject Neural prosthetics en_US
dc.subject Spinal cord en_US
dc.subject.lcsh Spinal cord Wounds and injuries
dc.subject.lcsh Electric stimulation
dc.subject.lcsh Neural stimulation
dc.subject.lcsh Axons
dc.title Selective surface activation of motor circuitry in the injured spinal cord en_US
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor DeWeerth, Stephen P.
local.contributor.corporatename Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication 6b8c24a1-7328-4161-8715-b26e0231ae78
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication da59be3c-3d0a-41da-91b9-ebe2ecc83b66
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
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