Can somatosensory enhancement amplify rhythmic human arm and leg movement?

我之前的工作揭示了手臂和腿之间强烈的神经元联系，这些联系是通过体感反馈雕刻和适应运动行为的。目前的提案测试了以前用于评估肢间协调的途径的有效性，现在以有针对性的方式扩大了这种协调以利用性能。现在，我正在测试强化感官刺激与节律性运动行为同时应用的效果。使用疲劳和脊髓反射调节作为代理性能标准，本提案将评估在有节奏的手臂和腿部循环过程中，增强手或脚皮肤输入以增强神经兴奋性和运动性能的潜力。非局部神经肌肉疲劳，通常被认为与本提案中使用的运动和运动表现有关，被定义为远端或对侧非运动肢体神经生理和/或运动结果的改变。这种类型的疲劳在许多涉及胳膊和腿的有节奏激活的运动形式中都很突出。因此，疲劳在操作上被定义为一种神经元间兴奋性的持续变化，这种变化是由一种有节奏的运动活动引起的，这种运动活动会产生短期（如运动停止后几分钟）反射振幅的变化。

My prior work reveals strong neuronal linkages between arms and legs that are sculpted and adapted to motor behaviour by somatosensory feedback. The current proposal tests the efficacy of pathways formerly used to assess interlimb coordination to now amplify that coordination to harness performance in a targeted way. Now, I am testing the efficacy of enhanced sensory stimulation applied coincidentally with rhythmic motor behavior. Using fatigue and spinal cord reflex modulation as proxy performance criteria, this proposal will assess the potential for enhanced cutaneous input from the hands or feet to amplify neural excitability and motor performance during rhythmic arm and leg cycling. Non-local neuromuscular fatigue, that is typically thought of in association with athletic and exercise performance as used within this proposal, is defined as alteration in neurophysiological and/or performance outcomes of a remote or contralateral non-exercised limb. This type of fatigue is prominent in many forms of exercise involving rhythmic activation of the arms and legs. Thus, fatigue is operationally defined here as a persistent change in interneuronal excitability produced by a bout of rhythmic motor activity that produces short term (e.g. minutes after cessation of movement) changes in reflex amplitudes. Projects proposed in this grant constellate within 2 themes related to the timing of sensory enhancement: A) during; or, B) prior to rhythmic activity. These projects assess the potential for enhanced somatosensory stimulation to: 1) prolong motor output (e.g. mitigate against fatigue, Theme A) during arm or leg cycling (Projects 1-3); 2) prime for enhanced performance (Theme B, Projects 4-7); 3) be amplified by the number of active limbs (arm, leg, and arm Project 8). Enhanced cutaneous input will be delivered to the hands, feet, and hands and feet during rhythmic arm, leg, and combined arm and leg cycling across projects of cycling and sensation. My long-term objective is to establish the extent to which enhanced somatosensory feedback interacting with CPG mechanisms amplifies motor output during human locomotion. To achieve my long-term objective, a detailed investigation of the extent to which the human somatosensory system may be artificially enhanced by sensory traffic is a requisite next step. Hence the objective for this research is to systematically characterize efficacy of amplifying CPG elements regulating arm and leg movement during motor behaviour using enhanced sensory stimulation via electrical activation of cutaneous nerves innervating the skin of the hands and feet. The working hypothesis for this next phase of my research program is that the application of enhanced sensory input will amplify excitability between the arms and legs during rhythmic activity of both arms and legs.