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The Journal of Neuroscience, July 30, 2008, 28(31):7774-7780; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1069-08.2008

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Development/Plasticity/Repair
Facilitation of Stepping with Epidural Stimulation in Spinal Rats: Role of Sensory Input

Igor Lavrov,¹ Grégoire Courtine,⁴ Christine J. Dy,¹ Rubia van den Brand,⁴ Andy J. Fong,⁵ Yuri Gerasimenko,^1,6 Hui Zhong,¹ Roland R. Roy,^1,3 and V. Reggie Edgerton^1,2,3

Departments of ¹Physiological Science and ²Neurobiology, and ³Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1527, ⁴University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland, ⁵Bioenginering Option, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, and ⁶Pavlov Institute of Physiology, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. V. Reggie Edgerton, Department of Physiological Science, University of California, Los Angeles, 621 Charles E. Young Drive LS 1804, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1527. Email: vre{at}ucla.edu

We investigated the role of afferent information during recovery of coordinated rhythmic activity of the hindlimbs in rats with a complete spinal cord section (approximately T8) and unilateral deafferentation (T12–S2) to answer the following questions: (1) Can bilateral stepping be generated with only afferent projections intact on one side? (2) Can the sensory input from the non-deafferented side compensate for the loss of the afferent input from the deafferented side through the crossed connections within the lumbosacral spinal cord? (3) Which afferent projections to the spinal cord from the non-deafferented side predominantly mediate the effect of epidural stimulation to facilitate stepping? Recovery of stepping ability was tested under the facilitating influence of epidural stimulation at the S1 spinal segment, or epidural stimulation plus quipazine, a 5-HT agonist. All chronic spinal rats were able to generate stepping-like patterns on a moving treadmill on the non-deafferented, but not deafferented, side from 3 to 7 weeks after surgery when facilitated by epidural stimulation. Adaptation to the loss of unilateral afferent input was evident at 7 weeks after surgery, when some movements occurred on the deafferented side. Spinal-cord-evoked potentials were observed on both sides, although middle (monosynaptic) and late (long latency) responses were more prominent on the non-deafferented side. The afferent information arising from the non-deafferented side, however, eventually could mediate limited restoration of hindlimb movements on the deafferented side. These data suggest that facilitation of stepping with epidural stimulation is mediated primarily through ipsilateral afferents that project to the locomotor networks.

Key words: spinal cord; spinal cord injury; deafferentation; synaptic plasticity; spinal cord stimulation; CPG

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Received March 11, 2008; revised May 17, 2008; accepted June 9, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. V. Reggie Edgerton, Department of Physiological Science, University of California, Los Angeles, 621 Charles E. Young Drive LS 1804, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1527. Email: vre{at}ucla.edu

This article has been cited by other articles:

				V. A. Selionov, Y. P. Ivanenko, I. A. Solopova, and V. S. Gurfinkel Tonic Central and Sensory Stimuli Facilitate Involuntary Air-Stepping in Humans J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2009; 101(6): 2847 - 2858. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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