By LISA ERCOLANO-JOHNS HOPKINS
The condition affects approximately 1.4 million Americans.
The device, a spinal stimulator, can be placed below the injury site through a simple injection, setting it apart from conventional stimulators, which are bulky and must be deployed farther from the nerves that control leg movements.
“The concept behind spinal stimulators is their ability to bypass injured regions, sending essential motor commands from the brain to the spinal region responsible for leg motions,” says Dinchang Lin, an assistant professor in the Whiting School of Engineering’s materials science and engineering department and a core researcher at Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology.
“Our innovative approach addresses a key challenge faced by many existing spinal stimulator technologies: achieving precise stimulation and minimal invasiveness.”
Conventional spinal stimulators are implanted either on the spinal cord’s dorsal surface (facing the person’s back) or directly into the spinal tissue. According to Lin, neither strategy is ideal: The former compromises the implant’s ability to precisely target important nerves, and the latter not only causes damage to the tissue during implantation surgery but also raises biocompatibility issues.
Lin’s team first identified a new site for stimulation, the ventrolateral epidural surface, which is very close to crucial motor neurons in the spinal cord and accessible without surgery. Then they designed a nanoscale, ultra-flexible, and stretchable device that can be inserted via a small injector and a simple syringe pump.
“Applying this new technology in a mouse model, we evoked leg motions using an electric current nearly two orders of magnitude lower than that used in traditional dorsal stimulation.
“Our stimulator not only enabled a broader range of motions but also allowed us to program the electrode array’s stimulation pattern, which resulted in more intricate and natural leg movements reminiscent of stepping, kicking, and waving,” says Lin, who led the team’s design and selection of the device’s scaffold materials, which was customized to achieve optimal mechanical properties and long-term biocompatibility.
The researchers hope that this technology—if eventually proven safe and effective for use in humans—could someday help restore leg function in people with spinal cord injuries or neuromotor diseases. They also believe that their implantation method with low invasiveness could make it accessible to more people.
“This technology could significantly improve the quality of many patients’ lives, lower the cost of personal care, and help them regain confidence and dignity,” Lin says.
Team members plan to continue work on the device with an eye to eventual human clinical trials. The findings appear in Nano Letters.
Source: Johns Hopkins University
—
Previously Published on futurity.org with Creative Commons License
***
You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project
 Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often |
 Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It |
 The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex |
 ..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community. A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities. A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Log in if you wish to renew an existing subscription.
Username
First Name
Last Name
Password
Password Again
Choose your subscription level
- Yearly – $50.00 – 1 Year
- Monthly – $6.99 – 1 Month
Credit / Debit Card PayPal Choose Your Payment Method
Auto Renew
Subscribe to The Good Men Project Daily Newsletter By completing this registration form, you are also agreeing to our Terms of Service which can be found here.
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock
The post Injectable Spine Stimulator May Restore Mobility for People with Paralysis appeared first on The Good Men Project.
