Simple measurement of spinal cord evoked potential: A valuable data source in the rat spinal cord injury model

Novel aspects of spinal cord evoked potentials (SCEPs) in the evaluation of dorso-ventral and lateral mechanical impacts on the spinal cord

“…The pyramidal and extrapyramidal pathways of highly myelinated MNs were similarly damaged by mechanical pressure and were clearly represented by the LMP model (figure 1(b-2)). The damage that occurred in the corticospinal tract was detected by a significant decline in A3 that was in agreement with previous studies (Park et al 2007, Ondrejcak et al 2005. Since at least half the injured animals recovered naturally (Ondrejcak et al 2005), it is proved that the decline in A3 amplitude was due to damage occurring in the LCS or in the extrapyramidal reticulospinal tract.…”

“…In normal conditions, SCEP signals contain three positive P1, P2, and P3 peaks that appear ahead of their negative N1, N2, and N3 counterparts. The N3 peak is more complex than the others and is normally composed of several smaller peaks (Park et al 2007). Provided the electrodes are properly positioned on an epidural recording site, one can record three differentiable peaks: DDR, A-wave, and C-wave, with latencies of 1, 2.25, and 5.75 ms, respectively (Fitzgerald and Woolf 1981).…”

Chronic spinal hemisection in rats induces a progressive decline in transmission in uninjured fibers to motoneurons

“…5). Numerous additional studies have shown that spontaneous recovery of hindlimb function and locomotor recovery ends 2 weeks after lateral HX (Webb and Muir, 2004; Ballermann and Fouad, 2006; Park et al, 2007; Courtine et al, 2008). Anatomical and behavioral studies indicate that the degree of locomotor recovery following a lesion of the spinal cord is directly correlated with the number of fibers remaining in the ventrolateral spinal cord, thus pointing to the role of these fibers in motor function (You et al, 2003).…”

Investigating afferent nerve activity from the lower urinary tract: Highlighting some basic research techniques and clinical evaluation methods

“…71,72 Other Techniques That Could Be Further Explored Epidural recording of evoked spinal cord potentials has been used in some reports in clinical setting and proved a valuable data source in the rat spinal cord injury model. 73 Afferent nerve activity from the dermatome, bladder, and rectum has been recorded using cuff electrodes placed on the extradural S3 sacral root in humans but improvements in recording quality and sophisticated signal processing methods are needed for chronic application. 74 Neurophysiological tests as sensory evoked potentials, sensory nerve CVs, spinal and cortical somatosensory evoked responses, bulbocavernosus reflex responses, mainly if combined, will give information on the afferent innervation.…”