Summary: According to research, deep brain stimulation ( DBS ) can increase arm and hand strength in patients who have experienced traumatic brain injury or a stroke. DBS soon increased muscle stimulation and hand force in assessments on monkeys and humans without causing involuntary movements.
A individual person with finger paralysis was able to restore major engine function, including lifting and grasping objects, thanks to the stimulation of the motor thalamus. These findings suggest that DBS might provide a new therapeutic opportunity for those who have motor imbalances brought on by head injuries.
Important Information:
- DBS stimulated the engine brain, which improved arm and hand performance in stroke and TBI people.
- Muscle power and activity in monkeys and humans improved immediately.
- DBS provides a new avenue of recovery for engine work following a traumatic brain injury or injury.
Origin: University of Pittsburgh
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine report immediately in , Nature Communications, that deep brain stimulation does offer immediate improvement in arm and hand power and functionality that have been weakened by traumatic brain injuries or strokes.
The success of extensive tests on monkeys and humans opens the door to a brand-new scientific application of brain-stimulation technology that is already in use, as well as provide insight into neural mechanisms underlying activity deficits brought on by brain injury.
Elvira Pirondini, Ph. D., senior author and corresponding author, noted that “arm and hand paralysis significantly impacts the quality of life of millions of people around the world.” Assistant teacher of natural medicine and rehabilitation at Pitt, D.
There are “growing interests in the use of neurotechnologies that stimulate the brain to improve upper-limb motor functions,” according to the statement from the FDA.” At the moment, we do n’t have effective solutions for patients who suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injury.
The motor cortex, a crucial area of the brain that controls voluntary action and the muscles, can become damaged by mental lesions brought on by severe head trauma or stroke. These muscles are weakened, leading to action deficits, including partial or total arm and hand paralysis, because of weakening these connections.
Researchers proposed using deep brain stimulation ( DBS ), a surgical procedure that places tiny electrodes in specific brain regions to deliver electrical impulses that regulate abnormal brain activity, to increase the activation of already strong connections.
DBS has changed the way people with neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease are treated by treating them with drugs in the past ten years.
” DBS has been life-changing for many people. Today, thanks to continued advancements in the health and efficiency of these devices, DBS is being explored as a appealing option for helping stroke survivors recover their motor functions”, said senior author and medical leader of the project, Jorge González-Martínez, M. D., Ph. D., professor, vice-chair of the neurosurgery, and director of Pitt’s program for movement and epilepsy.
” It offers new hope to millions of people worldwide”.
Utilizing electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, a key relay hub of movement control, in place of another successful Pitt  project, project , scientists hypothesized that using DBS could help restore movements that are necessary for daily living, such as object grasping.
However, because the theory has not been tested before, they first had to , test , it in monkeys, which are the only animals that have the same organization of the connections between the motor cortex and the muscles as humans.
Researchers implanted the FDA-approved stimulation device into monkeys with brain lesions that affected how effectively they could use their hands to understand how DBS of the motor thalamus improves voluntary arm movement and refine the precise location of the implant and the optimal stimulation frequency.
When the stimulation was activated, it significantly increased the activation of the muscles and grip force. Importantly, no involuntary movement was observed.
The same stimulation parameters were used in a patient who was scheduled to have DBS implantation into the motor thalamus to treat arm tremors brought on by a serious motor vehicle accident that left severe paralysis in both arms to verify that the procedure could be beneficial for humans.
The participant was able to lift a moderately heavy weight and reach, grasp, and lift a drinking cup more effectively and smoothly than they could have without the stimulation.
Researchers are currently working to evaluate the long-term effects of DBS and determine whether chronic stimulation could further improve arm and hand function in people who have been impacted by traumatic brain injury or stroke. To help bring this technology to more patients in the clinic, researchers are currently working to improve this technology.
Other authors of this research are Jonathan Ho, B. S., Erinn Grigsby, Ph. D., Arianna Damiani, M. S., Lucy Liang, M. S., Josep-Maria Balaguer, M. S., Sridula Kallakuri, Lilly Tang, B. S., Jessica Barrios-Martinez, M. D., Vahagn Karapetyan, M. D., Ph. D., Daryl Fields, M. D., Ph. D., Peter Gerszten, M. D., T. Kevin Hitchens, Ph. D., M. B. A., Theodora Constantine, P. A. C., Gregory Adams, B. S., Donald Crammond, Ph. D., and Marco Capogrosso, Ph. D., all of Pitt.
Funding: This study is supported by internal funding from Pitt’s departments of physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurological surgery. Additional funding was provided by the Walter L. Copeland Foundation, the Hamot Health Foundation and the National Institutes of Health ( R01NS122927-01A1 ).
About this news about neuroscience research and DBS
Author: Allison Hydzik
Source: University of Pittsburgh
Contact: Allison Hydzik – University of Pittsburgh
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
Elvira Pirondini and colleagues ‘” Potentiation of cortico-spinal output through targeted electrical stimulation of the motor thalamus.” Nature Communications
Abstract
Potentiation of cortico-spinal output is achieved by targeted motor thalamus electrical stimulation
Cerebral white matter lesions prevent cortico-spinal descending inputs from effectively activating spinal motoneurons, leading to a loss of motor control. However, in most cases, the damage to cortico-spinal axons is incomplete offering a potential target for therapies aimed at improving volitional muscle activation.
Here, we make the hypothesis that stimulation of the motor thalamus could facilitate activation of surviving cortico-spinal fibers by engaging direct excitatory connections to cortico-spinal motoneurons, thereby immediately boosting motor output.
In anesthetized monkeys, we discover the best thalamic targets and stimulation parameters for enhancing upper-limb motor-evoked potentials and grip forces in order to test this hypothesis. After white matter lesions, this potentiation continues.
We replicate these results in humans during intra-operative testing. Then, we create a stimulation protocol that immediately increases a patient’s ability to control their strength and force in a chronic white matter lesion.
Our findings demonstrate that electrical stimulation that targets surviving neural pathways can improve motor control following white matter lesions.
