Electronic bypass of spinal lesions: activation of lower motor neurons directly driven by cortical neural signals

This research explores a new method for restoring movement after spinal cord injury. The approach involves creating an electronic 'bridge' that bypasses the damaged spinal cord. This bridge uses brain signals to directly stimulate the muscles, enabling movement. The Motolink system detects neural patterns and triggers a spinal stimulator for hindlimb movement. This hardware can be head-mounted or carried in a backpack. By directly linking brain activity to muscle stimulation, the system aims to restore voluntary control over movement, which is often lost after spinal cord injury.

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  The researchers identified correlated activities of primary motor cortex neurons during treadmill walking of guinea pigs with spinal cord transection.
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  These neural activities were used to predict the kinematic states of the animals, indicating a direct link between brain signals and movement.
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  The Motolink system, when properly calibrated, could detect the neural 'intent' of walking, triggering electrical stimulation that induced stepping-like movements.