Forelimb Movements and Muscle Responses Evoked by Microstimulation of Cervical Spinal Cord in Sedated Monkeys

• Published in: Journal of neurophysiology Vol. 97; no. 1; pp. 110 - 120
• Main Authors: Moritz, Chet T, Lucas, Timothy H, Perlmutter, Steve I, Fetz, Eberhard E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Am Phys Soc 01.01.2007
• Subjects: Action Potentials - physiology; Animals; Cervical Vertebrae; Electric Stimulation; Electromyography; Female; Forelimb - innervation; Forelimb - physiology; Hypnotics and Sedatives - pharmacology; Interneurons - physiology; Joints - physiology; Macaca nemestrina; Male; Motor Neurons - physiology; Movement - physiology; Muscle Contraction - physiology; Muscle, Skeletal - innervation; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated - physiology; Neural Pathways - physiology; Neurons - physiology; Posterior Horn Cells - physiology; Primates; Range of Motion, Articular - physiology; Spinal Cord - physiology
• ISSN: 0022-3077; 1522-1598
• DOI: 10.1152/jn.00414.2006

1 Physiology and Biophysics and Washington National Primate Research Center, and 2 Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington Submitted 19 April 2006; accepted in final form 12 September 2006 Documenting the forelimb responses evoked by stimulating sites in primate cervical spinal cord is significant for understanding spinal circuitry and for potential neuroprosthetic applications involving hand and arm. We examined the forelimb movements and electromyographic (EMG) muscle responses evoked by intraspinal microstimulation in three M. nemestrina monkeys sedated with ketamine. Trains of three stimulus pulses (10–80 µA) at 300 Hz were delivered at sites in regularly spaced tracks from C6 to T1. Hand and/or arm movements were evoked at 76% of the 745 sites stimulated. Specifically, movements were evoked in digits (76% of effective sites), wrist (15% of sites), elbow (26%), and shoulder (17%). To document the muscle activity evoked by a stimulus current just capable of eliciting consistent joint rotation, stimulus-triggered averages of rectified EMG were calculated at each site where a movement was observed. Typically, many muscles were coactivated at threshold currents needed to evoke movements. Out of the 13–15 muscles recorded per animal, only one muscle was active at 14% of the effective sites and two to six muscles were coactivated at 47% of sites. Thus intraspinal stimulation at threshold currents adequate for evoking movement typically coactivated multiple muscles, including antagonists. Histologic reconstruction of stimulation sites indicated that responses were elicited from the dorsal and ventral horn and from fiber tracts in the white matter, with little somatotopic organization for movement or muscle activation. The absence of a clear somatotopic map of output sites is probably a result of the stimulation of complex mixtures of fibers and cells. Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: E. E. Fetz, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Box 357290, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98195-7290 (E-mail: fetz{at}u.washington.edu )