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Souza Oliveira, D.* ; Ponfick, M.* ; Braun, D.I.* ; Osswald, M.* ; Sierotowicz, M.* ; Chatterjee, S.* ; Weber, D.* ; Eskofier, B.M. ; Castellini, C.* ; Farina, D.* ; Kinfe, T.M.* ; Del Vecchio, A.*

A direct spinal cord-computer interface enables the control of the paralysed hand in spinal cord injury.

Brain, DOI: 10.1093/brain/awae088 (2024)
Publ. Version/Full Text DOI PMC
Open Access Gold (Paid Option)
Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag
The paralysis of the muscles controlling the hand dramatically limits the quality of life of individuals living with spinal cord injury (SCI). Here, with a non-invasive neural interface, we demonstrate that eight motor complete SCI individuals (C5-C6) are still able to task-modulate in real-time the activity of populations of spinal motor neurons with residual neural pathways. In all SCI participants tested, we identified groups of motor units under voluntary control that encoded various hand movements. The motor unit discharges were mapped into more than 10 degrees of freedom, ranging from grasping to individual hand-digit flexion and extension. We then mapped the neural dynamics into a real-time controlled virtual hand. The SCI participants were able to match the cue hand posture by proportionally controlling four degrees of freedom (opening and closing the hand and index flexion/extension). These results demonstrate that wearable muscle sensors provide access to spared motor neurons that are fully under voluntary control in complete cervical SCI individuals. This non-invasive neural interface allows the investigation of motor neuron changes after the injury and has the potential to promote movement restoration when integrated with assistive devices.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords High Density Surface Electromyography ; Motor Neuron ; Motor Unit ; Neural Interface ; Spinal Cord Injury; Intermuscular Coherence; Target
ISSN (print) / ISBN 0006-8950
e-ISSN 1460-2156
Journal Brain: A Journal of Neurology
Publisher Oxford University Press
Publishing Place Great Clarendon St, Oxford Ox2 6dp, England
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Institute of AI for Health (AIH)
Grants Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EPSRC Transformative Healthcare
European Research Council (ERC) under the Synergy Grant Natural BionicS
Friedrich-Alexander University (Friedrich- Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nurnberg)
Siemens Healthineers, Medical Valley, University Hospital Erlangen (Universitatsklinikum Erlangen)
The d.hip (Digital Health Innovation Platform)
Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology through the project NeurOne
German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)
European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant project GRASPAGAIN