DOI

Impairments of the lower urinary tract function including urine storage and voiding are widely spread among patients with spinal cord injuries. The management of such patients includes bladder catheterization, surgical and pharmacological approaches, which reduce the morbidity from urinary tract-related complications. However, to date, there is no effective treatment of neurogenic bladder and restoration of urinary function. In the present study, we examined neuromodulation of detrusor (Detr) and external urethral sphincter by epidural electrical stimulation (EES) of lumbar and sacral regions of the spinal cord in chronic rats. To our knowledge, it is the first chronic study where detrusor and external urethral sphincter signals were recorded simultaneously to monitor their neuromodulation by site-specific spinal cord stimulation (SCS). The data obtained demonstrate that activation of detrusor muscle mainly occurs during the stimulation of the upper lumbar (L1) and lower lumbar (L5-L6) spinal segments whereas external urethral sphincter was activated predominantly by sacral stimulation. These findings can be used for the development of neurorehabilitation strategies based on spinal cord epidural stimulation for autonomic function recovery after severe spinal cord injury (SCI).

Original languageEnglish
Article number47
Number of pages12
JournalFrontiers in Systems Neuroscience
Volume14
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Jul 2020

    Research areas

  • detrusor, epidural spinal cord electrical stimulation, external urethral sphincter, low urinary tract, neuromodulation, MICTURITION, URINARY-BLADDER, MUSCLE, INJURY, LOCOMOTION, IMPROVES BLADDER FUNCTION, CIRCUITS, ELECTRICAL-STIMULATION, PUDENDAL NERVE-STIMULATION, BRAIN

    Scopus subject areas

  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Neuroscience (miscellaneous)

ID: 61417479