Eccentric Motor Training with Neuromodulation and Biomarkers for Rehabilitation Readiness in Subacute SCI
Abstract
Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in severe consequences. Two interventions show promise for functional improvements but have never been tried together are downhill treadmill training which works muscles in with an eccentric control challenge and surface electrical stimulation. The expectation is that combining these two treatments together will bring improvements beyond what each can deliver alone. Interventions delivered too early actually interfere rather than assist recovery. Therefore, we are investigating genetic and imaging biomarkers as Go/No Go thresholds to determine readiness for rehabilitation. The expression of genes as quantified from cerebrospinal fluid will indicate whether the spinal cord environment is inflammatory, which would show a condition in which exercise training is likely to be less effective, a No Go indicator. For an image-based Go biomarker, we will quantify the amount of myelin around the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord using MRI. Individuals with complete or incomplete SCI (neurologic level C4-T10) are being enrolled at 2-4 months after SCI, a period when we hypothesize that inflammation will be declining (ie not too early) and myelin loss may still be limited. We will compare these individuals with age-matched, healthy controls. The primary focus in Year 2 has been 3-fold. Focus 1: Developing and testing statistical analytics and data visualization for biomechanical data using previous data with the same structure and outcome measures as the current study. Focus 2: On-boarding new personnel (GRA, bioinformatician) to continue working on biomarker processing pipeline and genetic data analysis of the blood biomarker data collected previously. Focus 3: Upgrades to MRI software has been completed and validation of measurements against phantoms and University of British Columbia (UBC) are underway.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1222257
Entities
People
- D. M. Basso
Organizations
- Ohio State University