TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation and patterned electrical stimulation on spinal inhibitory interneurons and motor function in patients with spinal cord injury
AU - Yamaguchi, Tomofumi
AU - Fujiwara, Toshiyuki
AU - Tsai, Yun An
AU - Tang, Shuen Chang
AU - Kawakami, Michiyuki
AU - Mizuno, Katsuhiro
AU - Kodama, Mitsuhiko
AU - Masakado, Yoshihisa
AU - Liu, Meigen
N1 - Funding Information:
A part of this study falls under the “Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences” of the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. This work was partially supported by a JSPS KAKENHI (C) Grant Number 26350587 and a Health Labor Sciences Research Grant (12102976) to Toshiyuki Fujiwara, and a grant from the Funds for a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists(B) (15K16370) to Tomofumi Yamaguchi.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, The Author(s).
PY - 2016/6/1
Y1 - 2016/6/1
N2 - Supraspinal excitability and sensory input may play an important role for the modulation of spinal inhibitory interneurons and functional recovery among patients with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). Here, we investigated the effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with patterned electrical stimulation (PES) on spinal inhibitory interneurons in patients with chronic incomplete SCI and in healthy individuals. Eleven patients with incomplete SCI and ten healthy adults participated in a single-masked, sham-controlled crossover study. PES involved stimulating the common peroneal nerve with a train of ten 100 Hz pulses every 2 s for 20 min. Anodal tDCS (1 mA) was simultaneously applied to the primary motor cortex that controls the tibialis anterior muscle. We measured reciprocal inhibition and presynaptic inhibition of a soleus H-reflex by stimulating the common peroneal nerve prior to tibial nerve stimulation, which elicits the H-reflex. The inhibition was assessed before, immediately after, 10 min after and 20 min after the stimulation. Compared with baseline, simultaneous application of anodal tDCS with PES significantly increased changes in disynaptic reciprocal inhibition and long-latency presynaptic inhibition in both healthy and SCI groups for at least 20 min after the stimulation (all, p < 0.001). In patients with incomplete SCI, anodal tDCS with PES significantly increased the number of ankle movements in 10 s at 20 min after the stimulation (p = 0.004). In conclusion, anodal tDCS combined with PES could induce spinal plasticity and improve ankle movement in patients with incomplete SCI.
AB - Supraspinal excitability and sensory input may play an important role for the modulation of spinal inhibitory interneurons and functional recovery among patients with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). Here, we investigated the effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with patterned electrical stimulation (PES) on spinal inhibitory interneurons in patients with chronic incomplete SCI and in healthy individuals. Eleven patients with incomplete SCI and ten healthy adults participated in a single-masked, sham-controlled crossover study. PES involved stimulating the common peroneal nerve with a train of ten 100 Hz pulses every 2 s for 20 min. Anodal tDCS (1 mA) was simultaneously applied to the primary motor cortex that controls the tibialis anterior muscle. We measured reciprocal inhibition and presynaptic inhibition of a soleus H-reflex by stimulating the common peroneal nerve prior to tibial nerve stimulation, which elicits the H-reflex. The inhibition was assessed before, immediately after, 10 min after and 20 min after the stimulation. Compared with baseline, simultaneous application of anodal tDCS with PES significantly increased changes in disynaptic reciprocal inhibition and long-latency presynaptic inhibition in both healthy and SCI groups for at least 20 min after the stimulation (all, p < 0.001). In patients with incomplete SCI, anodal tDCS with PES significantly increased the number of ankle movements in 10 s at 20 min after the stimulation (p = 0.004). In conclusion, anodal tDCS combined with PES could induce spinal plasticity and improve ankle movement in patients with incomplete SCI.
KW - Disynaptic reciprocal inhibition
KW - H-reflex
KW - Locomotion
KW - Presynaptic inhibition
KW - Rehabilitation
KW - Spinal plasticity
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U2 - 10.1007/s00221-016-4561-4
DO - 10.1007/s00221-016-4561-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 26790423
AN - SCOPUS:84954498612
SN - 0014-4819
VL - 234
SP - 1469
EP - 1478
JO - Experimental Brain Research
JF - Experimental Brain Research
IS - 6
ER -