Spinal Control of Locomotion: Studies and Applications

描述（申请人提供）：这个生物工程合作伙伴关系汇集了一个多学科的神经科学家和工程师团队，他们在脊髓神经组织方面具有互补的专业知识（马尼托巴大学大卫麦克雷博士），生物医学工程和神经肌肉刺激（Dr. Michel Lemay，Drexel University），运动生理学和生物力学（Boris Prilutsky博士，格鲁吉亚理工学院），以及计算神经科学和神经控制（llya Rybak博士，德雷克塞尔大学）。该项目的目标是（1）对哺乳动物脊髓中负责产生运动模式和运动控制的神经机制进行全面的多学科研究，（2）找到脊髓损伤后恢复运动功能的最佳策略。在这个项目中，两个全面的数据库将建立在去大脑猫的虚构运动的实验研究和自由移动的未受伤的猫和脊髓猫的生物力学研究的基础上。这些数据库将用于开发（1）负责产生和控制运动模式的脊髓神经回路的计算模型和（2）猫运动的神经肌肉骨骼模型。将制定特殊的定量生物力学标准，用于评价脊髓猫在恢复运动功能的不同治疗期间和之后的运动能力。所开发的计算模型和生物力学标准将为所应用的治疗和其结果的评估提供指导。将实施和研究基于跑步机上的运动训练与所选感觉传入的相位依赖性电刺激相结合的运动能力恢复的不同策略。该项目的结果将为负责控制运动的脊髓机制提供重要见解，并将代表在各种脊髓损伤后恢复运动功能的最佳和有效方法的发展方面迈出的重要一步。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Bioengineering Partnership brings together a multidisciplinary team of neuroscientists and engineers with complementary expertise in neural organization of the spinal cord (Dr. David McCrea, University of Manitoba), biomedical engineering and neuromuscular stimulations (Dr. Michel Lemay, Drexel University), physiology and biomechanics of locomotion (Dr. Boris Prilutsky, Georgia Institute of Technology), and computational neuroscience and neural control (Dr. llya Rybak, Drexel University). The goals of this project are (1) to perform a comprehensive multidisciplinary study of neural mechanisms in the mammalian spinal cord responsible for generation of the locomotor pattern and control of locomotion and (2) to find optimal strategies for restoring locomotor function after spinal cord injuries. In this project, two comprehensive databases will be created based on experimental studies of fictive locomotion in the decerebrate cat and on biomechanical studies of freely moving uninjured cats and spinal cats. These databases will be used for the development of (1) a computational model of neural circuitry of the spinal cord responsible for generation and control of the locomotor pattern and (2) a neuro-musculo-skeletal model of cat's locomotion. Special quantitative biomechanical criteria will be developed for evaluation of locomotor capabilities of spinal cats during and after implementation of different treatments for restoring the locomotor function. The computational models and biomechanical criteria developed will provide guidance for the applied treatments and evaluation of their results. Different strategies for the restoration of locomotor capabilities based on the combination of locomotor training on a treadmill with phase-dependent electrical stimulation of the selected sensory afferents will be implemented and investigated. The results of this project will provide significant insights into spinal mechanisms responsible for control of locomotion and will represent an important step toward the development of optimal and effective methods for restoration of locomotor function after various spinal cord injuries.