• Natalija Katic Secerovic
  • Josep-Maria Balaguer
  • Oleg Gorskii
  • Natalia Pavlova
  • Lucy Liang
  • Jonathan Ho
  • Erinn Grigsby
  • Peter C. Gerszten
  • Dzhina Karal-ogly
  • Dmitry Bulgin
  • Sergei Orlov
  • Elvira Pirondini
  • Pavel Musienko
  • Stanisa Raspopovic
  • Marco Capogrosso

While neurostimulation technologies are rapidly approaching clinical applications for sensorimotor disorders, the impact of electrical stimulation on network dynamics is still unknown. Given the high degree of shared processing in neural structures, it is critical to understand if neurostimulation affects functions that are related to, but not targeted by, the intervention. Here, we approach this question by studying the effects of electrical stimulation of cutaneous afferents on unrelated processing of proprioceptive inputs. We recorded intraspinal neural activity in four monkeys while generating proprioceptive inputs from the radial nerve. We then applied continuous stimulation to the radial nerve cutaneous branch and quantified the impact of the stimulation on spinal processing of proprioceptive inputs via neural population dynamics. Proprioceptive pulses consistently produce neural trajectories that are disrupted by concurrent cutaneous stimulation. This disruption propagates to the somatosensory cortex, suggesting that electrical stimulation can perturb natural information processing across the neural axis.

Original languageEnglish
Article number113695
JournalCell Reports
Volume43
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 27 Feb 2024

    Research areas

  • Electric Stimulation, Peripheral Nerves, Skin/innervation, Spine, electrical stimulation, spinal sensorimotor computations, neural population dynamics, CP: Neuroscience, manifold, somatosensory cortex, spinal cord

ID: 120791668