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Technique for spinal cord neural signal measurement may aid in injury recovery
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The first conclusive, non-invasive measurement of neural signaling in the spinal cords of healthy human patients was carried out recently by researchers at Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science.
The technique may have future applications in helping patients recover from spinal cord injuries and other disorders that affect the spinal cord, such as multiple sclerosis, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center press release.
An explanation of the technique, which uses ultra-high field functional MRI (fMRI) with a 7 Tesla magnet, multichannel spinal cord coils, and advanced image acquisition and analysis methods, was published recently in eLife.
Researchers used fMRI to detect for the first time “resting state” signals between neural circuits in the human spinal column, which are continuously active, not in response to external stimuli.
“We see these background resting circuits as being inherent measures of function,” senior study author, John Gore, PhD, said in the press release.
The technique may be valuable for understanding how spinal cord injury changes the functional connectivity between neural circuits, for example, and for assessing and monitoring recovery that occurs spontaneously or following interventions, according to the release.