Nonspecific neuronal activity elicited by intraspinal microstimulation in the intermediate and ventral gray matter of thoracic spinal segments caudal to a complete spinal cord transection significantly increased the r...Nonspecific neuronal activity elicited by intraspinal microstimulation in the intermediate and ventral gray matter of thoracic spinal segments caudal to a complete spinal cord transection significantly increased the rat hindlimb Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan locomotor score by activating the central pattem generator located in the lumbar spinal cord. However, the best region for intraspinal microstimulation is unclear. Using an incomplete spinal cord injury model at T8, we compared the use of intraspinal microstimulation to activate the spinal cord in rats with a spontaneous recovery group. The intraspinal microstimulation group recovered sooner and showed three kinds of movement： the left hindlimb, the left hindlimb toes, and the paraspinal muscles and tails. These had different microstimulation thresholds. There was mild hyperplasia of the astrocytes surrounding the tips of the microelectrodes and slight inflammatory reactions nearby. These results indicate that implantation of microelectrodes was relatively safe and induced minimal damage to the lumbar-sacral spinal cord. Intraspinal microstimulation in the lumbar sacral spinal cord may improve leg movements after spinal cord injury. Non-specific intraspinal microstimulation may be a novel technique for the recovery of spinal cord injuries.展开更多
Along with the flourishing of brain-computer interface technology,the brain-to-brain information transmission between different organisms has received high attention in recent years.However,specific information transm...Along with the flourishing of brain-computer interface technology,the brain-to-brain information transmission between different organisms has received high attention in recent years.However,specific information transmission mode and implementation technology need to be further studied.In this paper,we constructed a brain-to-brain information transmission system between pigeons based on the neural information decoding and electrical stimulation encoding technologies.Our system consists of three parts:(1)the“perception pigeon”learns to distinguish different visual stimuli with two discrepant frequencies,(2)the computer decodes the stimuli based on the neural signals recorded from the“perception pigeon”through a frequency identification algorithm(neural information decoding)and encodes them into different kinds of electrical pulses,(3)the“action pigeon”receives the Intracortical Microstimulation(ICMS)and executes corresponding key-pecking actions through discriminative learning(electrical stimulation encoding).The experimental results show that our brain-to-brain system achieves information transmission from perception to action between two pigeons with the average accuracy of about 72%.Our study verifies the feasibility of information transmission between inter-brain based on neural information decoding and ICMS encoding,providing important technical methods and experimental program references for the development of brain-to-brain communication technology.展开更多
Background:Previous research has demonstrated that rats can learn to utilize a neuroprosthetic device to track infrared(IR)light sources outside their normal visual range.This device delivers IR information directly t...Background:Previous research has demonstrated that rats can learn to utilize a neuroprosthetic device to track infrared(IR)light sources outside their normal visual range.This device delivers IR information directly to the somatosensory cortex(S1)via intracortical microstimulation(ICMS).While S1 neurons have been shown to develop IR receptive fields,the role of the thalamus in processing this novel sensory input remains unclear.This study aimed to investigate the involvement of the thalamus in integrating IR sensory information and the emergence of IR representations within thalamocortical circuits.Methods:Adult rats were implanted with a cortical neuroprosthesis delivering IR-driven ICMS to bilateral S1.Neural activity was simultaneously recorded from left and right hemispheres of S1 and right thalamic(ventral posterior medial[VPM],posterior medial[POM])nuclei during an IR-guided behavioral task.IR receptive fields were characterized using information-theoretic analysis.Neural ensemble coding was evaluated using machine learning classification.Results:Widespread activation in response to ICMS was observed across all recorded regions.The percentage of neurons with significant mutual information between firing activity and IR stimulus features ranged from 56.2%to 74.2%.VPM ensembles demonstrated superior decoding performance for IR information compared to S1 ensembles in a support vector classification model,requiring fewer neurons to achieve similar accuracy(43.1 vs.55.0 neurons,Tukey’s HSD,P<0.05).Importantly,animals retained the ability to process tactile information and recorded neurons were found to respond to whisker stimulation.Conclusions:These findings demonstrate the rapid adaptation of thalamocortical circuits to represent a novel sensory modality and suggest a major role of the thalamus in processing the prosthetic sensation.Furthermore,these results suggest that ICMS-based neuroprostheses recruit neurons from the entire sensory pathway without compromising the endogenous sensory function.展开更多
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.30770744
文摘Nonspecific neuronal activity elicited by intraspinal microstimulation in the intermediate and ventral gray matter of thoracic spinal segments caudal to a complete spinal cord transection significantly increased the rat hindlimb Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan locomotor score by activating the central pattem generator located in the lumbar spinal cord. However, the best region for intraspinal microstimulation is unclear. Using an incomplete spinal cord injury model at T8, we compared the use of intraspinal microstimulation to activate the spinal cord in rats with a spontaneous recovery group. The intraspinal microstimulation group recovered sooner and showed three kinds of movement： the left hindlimb, the left hindlimb toes, and the paraspinal muscles and tails. These had different microstimulation thresholds. There was mild hyperplasia of the astrocytes surrounding the tips of the microelectrodes and slight inflammatory reactions nearby. These results indicate that implantation of microelectrodes was relatively safe and induced minimal damage to the lumbar-sacral spinal cord. Intraspinal microstimulation in the lumbar sacral spinal cord may improve leg movements after spinal cord injury. Non-specific intraspinal microstimulation may be a novel technique for the recovery of spinal cord injuries.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(62301496)the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(GZC20232447)+1 种基金the Program for Science and Technology of Henan Province of China(242300421411)the Key Scientific and Technological Projects of Henan Province(232102210072,232102210098).
文摘Along with the flourishing of brain-computer interface technology,the brain-to-brain information transmission between different organisms has received high attention in recent years.However,specific information transmission mode and implementation technology need to be further studied.In this paper,we constructed a brain-to-brain information transmission system between pigeons based on the neural information decoding and electrical stimulation encoding technologies.Our system consists of three parts:(1)the“perception pigeon”learns to distinguish different visual stimuli with two discrepant frequencies,(2)the computer decodes the stimuli based on the neural signals recorded from the“perception pigeon”through a frequency identification algorithm(neural information decoding)and encodes them into different kinds of electrical pulses,(3)the“action pigeon”receives the Intracortical Microstimulation(ICMS)and executes corresponding key-pecking actions through discriminative learning(electrical stimulation encoding).The experimental results show that our brain-to-brain system achieves information transmission from perception to action between two pigeons with the average accuracy of about 72%.Our study verifies the feasibility of information transmission between inter-brain based on neural information decoding and ICMS encoding,providing important technical methods and experimental program references for the development of brain-to-brain communication technology.
基金National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke(NINDS)of the National Institutes of Health(NIH)under Award Number R01DE011451 to M.A.L.N.
文摘Background:Previous research has demonstrated that rats can learn to utilize a neuroprosthetic device to track infrared(IR)light sources outside their normal visual range.This device delivers IR information directly to the somatosensory cortex(S1)via intracortical microstimulation(ICMS).While S1 neurons have been shown to develop IR receptive fields,the role of the thalamus in processing this novel sensory input remains unclear.This study aimed to investigate the involvement of the thalamus in integrating IR sensory information and the emergence of IR representations within thalamocortical circuits.Methods:Adult rats were implanted with a cortical neuroprosthesis delivering IR-driven ICMS to bilateral S1.Neural activity was simultaneously recorded from left and right hemispheres of S1 and right thalamic(ventral posterior medial[VPM],posterior medial[POM])nuclei during an IR-guided behavioral task.IR receptive fields were characterized using information-theoretic analysis.Neural ensemble coding was evaluated using machine learning classification.Results:Widespread activation in response to ICMS was observed across all recorded regions.The percentage of neurons with significant mutual information between firing activity and IR stimulus features ranged from 56.2%to 74.2%.VPM ensembles demonstrated superior decoding performance for IR information compared to S1 ensembles in a support vector classification model,requiring fewer neurons to achieve similar accuracy(43.1 vs.55.0 neurons,Tukey’s HSD,P<0.05).Importantly,animals retained the ability to process tactile information and recorded neurons were found to respond to whisker stimulation.Conclusions:These findings demonstrate the rapid adaptation of thalamocortical circuits to represent a novel sensory modality and suggest a major role of the thalamus in processing the prosthetic sensation.Furthermore,these results suggest that ICMS-based neuroprostheses recruit neurons from the entire sensory pathway without compromising the endogenous sensory function.
