Dipole electrical stimulation employing direct current for recovery from spinal cord injury

Abstract

A system and method to treat neuromuscular conditions, including spinal cord injury, by what is characterized as dipole (two point) cortico-muscular stimulation. Two-point stimulation, with oppositely charged electrodes, allows pulsed, direct current to pass through the cortico-muscular pathway. The electrodes are placed on nerves, muscles, or a combination of both, that are on opposite sides of the spinal column, forming a current that passes across the spinal column. Further, an active electrode can be placed on the spinal column and a reference electrode can be placed outside the central nervous system. These methods improve functional recovery of the motor pathway.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 253,948, filed on Oct. 22, 2009 and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 316,319, filed on Mar. 22, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]This invention was made with support under New York State Department of Health (NYS / DOH) grant No. CO23684 and Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York (PSCCUNY) grant No. 60027-37-39. The state of New York has certain rights in this invention.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention generally relates to the field of providing stimulation of central nervous system tissue, muscles, nerves, or combinations thereof, and more particularly to a system and method for treating neuromuscular conditions through two-point electrical stimulation.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0004]The nerv...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a system and method using dipole cortico-muscular stimulation (dCMS) to treat neuromuscular conditions, including spinal cord injury. The two-point stimulation method improves the function of the skeletal muscles after SCI by promoting stronger connections between the spinal motor circuits and the motor cortex. The dCMS configuration involves an active electrode at a first point and a reference electrode at a second point, and the current passes across the spinal cord. This method is not affected by factors such as excitability or synaptic strength and can activate the entire pathway regardless of its morphological integrity. The technical effects of dCMS include substantial improvement in muscle twitch force and spinal cord responses in control and SCI animals.

Problems solved by technology

Damage to the nervous system may result from a traumatic injury, such as penetrating trauma or blunt trauma, or a disease or disorder including, but not limited to Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), diabetic neuropathy, senile dementia, stroke and ischemia.

After spinal cord injury (SCI), spared regions of the central nervous system are spontaneously capable of repairing the damaged pathway, although the process is very limited.

Moreover, despite the many promising treatment strategies to improve connections across the damaged spinal cord, the strength of connectivity and functional recovery of the impaired spinal cord are still unsatisfactory.

Therefore, one-point stimulation would be restricted in its efficacy and inclined toward stronger connections.

The loss of neuromuscular activity after SCI leads to inevitable abnormalities that limit the effectiveness of one-point stimulation by blocking excitatory responses from traveling across the sensorimotor pathway.

This maladaptive function will bias stimuli toward connections with better integrity, further limiting the effectiveness of localized stimulation.

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