Smart Prosthetics Exploring Assistive Devices for the Body and Mind: Task Group Summaries (2007) / Chapter Skim
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Create Hybrid Prostheses That Exploit Activity-Dependent Processes
Create Hybrid Prostheses That Exploit Activity-Dependent Processes
Pages 77-86
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From page 77... ...
Fully implantable devices are available to stimulate reliably neurons in the brain, within the spinal cord, and in the peripheral nervous system. Electrical stimulation provides the ability to control electrical activity within neurons and therefore provides a means to enhance and control these activity-dependent processes.
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From page 78... ...
2004. Rescuing transient corticospinal terminations and promoting growth with corticospinal stimulation in kittens.
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From page 79... ...
Grill, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Surgery, Duke University • Ranu Jung, Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Co-Director, Center for Adaptive Neural Systems, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University • Cameron McIntyre, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Cleveland Clinic • Erica Naone, Graduate Student, Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Sasha (Alexander) Rabchevsky, Assistant Professor, Physiology, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, University of Kentucky • Patricia Shewokis, Associate Professor and Movement Scientist, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University • Michael E
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From page 80... ...
Where traditional stroke therapies might leave the patient dependent, this prosthetic would assist the patient not only with daily activity but also with fully recovering lost function, eventually making itself obsolete. Where traditional prosthetics try to replace missing parts, this prosthetic would serve to link existing
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From page 81... ...
With an outline for this device in place the group hoped similar techniques could be applied to facilitate the healing process for multiple types of neurological injury and disease. Internal State The group quickly realized that building this dream device and using it would require finding a way for the machine to interface with the human brain, spinal cord, and peripheral structures.
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From page 82... ...
To function as a means to an end the prosthesis would need to insert itself into existing circuits in the brain, so it could assist wounded neurological tissue. Since much of the brain's ability to control the body's systems and adapt to situations depends on neuronal activity, the prosthetic would stimulate that activity at the appropriate times or amplify the signals of a few intact neurons.
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From page 83... ...
The limits of plasticity also need to be discovered. Though much remains to be learned about the rules governing plasticity and its limits, the group agreed that taking advantage of the brain's plasticity mechanisms was desirable.
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From page 84... ...
Synaptic augmentation, a longer-lasting form of facilitation could enhance the ability of a neuronal circuit to sustain persistent activity after a transient stimulus, and this has been demonstrated in a competi tive model of sensory integration in spinal cord neurons.5 Long term synaptic depression (LTD) is an important complementary phe nomenon to LTP, because it can prevent runaway increases in synaptic strength and because it can reduce activity in ineffective neuronal pathways.
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From page 85... ...
These processes and signaling molecules are targets for hybrid prosthetic interventions. Still, as Robert Froemke pointed out: Knowledge of how any of these factors influence actual neuro rehabilitation in human patients is sorely lacking.
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From page 86... ...
This long-term outcome would be considered analogous to skill learning of the very smart hybrid prosthetic. The person suffering the debilitating neurological effects of a stroke represents one user who could benefit by exploiting activity-dependent processes to help the body help itself.
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