Background Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is used to restore movements in paretic limbs after severe paralyses resulting from neurological injuries such as spinal cord injury (SCI). Most chronic FES systems utilize an implantable electrical stimulator to deliver a small electric current to the targeted muscle or nerve to stimulate muscle contractions. These implanted stimulators are generally bulky, mainly due to the size of the batteries. Furthermore, these battery-powered stimulators are required to be explanted every few years for battery replacement which may result in surgical failures or infections. Hence, a wireless power transfer technique is desirable to power these implantable stimulators. Methods Conventional wireless power transduction faces significant challenges for safe and efficient energy transfer through the skin and deep into the body. Inductive and electromagnetic power transduction is generally used for very short distances and may also interfere with other medical measurements such as X-ray and MRI. To address these issues, we have developed a wireless, ultrasonically powered, implantable piezoelectric stimulator. The stimulator is encapsulated with biocompatible materials. Results The stimulator is capable of harvesting a maximum of 5.95 mW electric power at an 8-mm depth under the skin from an ultrasound beam with about 380 mW/cm 2 of acoustic intensity. The stimulator was implanted in several paraplegic rats with SCI. Our implanted stimulator successfully induced several hindlimb muscle contractions and restored leg movement. Conclusions A battery-free miniature (10 mm diameter × 4 mm thickness) implantable stimulator, developed in the current study is capable of directly stimulating paretic muscles through external ultrasound signals. The required cost to develop the stimulator is relatively low as all the components are off the shelf. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12984-019-0501-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Neuromodulation via electrical stimulation (ES) is a common technique to treat numerous brain and spinal cord related neurological conditions. In the present study, we examined the efficacy of piezoelectric stimulation (pES) by a custom miniature piezostimulator to activate the spinal cord neurocircuit in comparison with conventional epidural ES in rats. Methods: Stimulation electrodes were implanted on L2 and S1 spinal cord and were connected to a head-plug for ES, and a piezostimulator for pES. EMG electrodes were implanted into hindlimb muscles. To generate piezoelectric current, an ultrasound beam was delivered by an external ultrasound probe. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded during the piezoelectric stimulation and compared with the signals generated by the ES. Results: Our results suggest that ultrasound intensity as low as 0.1 mW/cm 2 could induce MEPs in the hindlimbs. No significant difference was found either in MEPs or in muscle recruitments for ES and pES. Similar to ES, pES induced by 22.5 mW/cm 2 ultrasound restored locomotion in paralyzed rats with complete thoracic cord injury. Locomotion EMG signals indicated that pES works same as ES. Conclusion: We propose piezoelectric stimulation as a new avenue of neuromodulation with features overtaking conventional electrical stimulation to serve future bioelectronic medicine.

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Biodegradable body temperature‐responsive shape memory polyurethanes, with self‐healing function, were synthesized here from PCDL, MDI and different chain extenders, in which the chain extenders are designed to adjust their transition temperatures and shape memory properties. Once deformed at proper temperature, they show more than 96% shape fixation until heated near body temperature, where they recover their original shape (100%) within 20 s. Moreover, these polyurethanes could be self‐healing at proper temperature, which makes them available in many medical fields. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:E310–E316, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers

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Buspirone, widely used as a neuropsychiatric drug, has also shown potentials for motor function recovery of injured spinal cord. However, the optimum dosages of such treatment remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the dose-response of Buspirone treatment on reaching and grasping function in cervical cord injured rats. Seventeen adult Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to reach and grasp sugar pellets before a C4 bilateral dorsal column crush injury. After 1 week post-injury, the rats were divided into 3 groups to receive 1 of 3 different dosages of Buspirone (i.p., 1 dose/day: 1.5, n = 5; 2.5, n = 6 and 3.5 mg/kg b.w., n = 6). Forelimb reaching and grip strength test were recorded once per week, within 1 hour of Buspirone administration for 11 weeks post-injury. Different dose groups began to exhibit differences in reaching scores from 4 weeks post-injury. From 4-11 weeks post-injury, the reaching scores were highest in the lowest-dose group rats compared to the other 2 dose groups rats. Average grip strength was also found higher in the lowest-dose rats. Our results demonstrate a significant dose-dependence of Buspirone on the recovery of forelimb motor functions after cervical cord injury with the best performance occurring at the lowest dose tested.

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