CortIMod · Implementation and Preliminary Validation of a Novel Noninvasive Neuromodulation Technique to Restore Hand Movement and Promote Recovery after Stroke

Implementation and Preliminary Validation of a Novel Noninvasive Neuromodulation Technique to Restore Hand Movement and Promote Recovery after Stroke

Most stroke patients show incomplete motor recovery despite intensive rehabilitation. There is a need for novel and improved rehabilitation interventions. Noninvasive brain stimulation provides the possibility to harness neuroplasticity for motor rehabilitation. However, results so far with these techniques are variable, modest and not well-understood. Understanding and influencing the neural processes that allow humans to start and control movements and to learn new motor abilities is of great relevance to improve the recovery of patients who have suffered a brain lesion. This project has been aimed to propose new strategies to stimulate with higher efficacy the areas of the brain involved in the generation of voluntary actions. CortIMod merges innovative electrophysiological techniques with advanced brain signal processing methods to address two main questions: i) can brain stimulation specificity be improved using advanced models of motor cortical activation patterns and by exploiting the learning mechanisms of the brain? and ii) can a more selective brain stimulation lead to a finer control of the induced functional changes in plasticity studies? Under the framework of this project we have carried out a set of experiments involving over 200 sessions with healthy subjects and patients. First, experiments have allowed us to obtain results showing how brain stimulation protocols can increase specificity of the induced changes in the brain by using directional brain stimulation and by targeting narrow windows of time immediately preceding voluntary movements. Experiments have also been conducted to understand the features of the brain states during movement preparation. Our findings in this regard are relevant for the brain stimulation community because they provide new evidences about the brain processes involved in movement preparation. These results will have a significant impact in future experiments conducted by researchers aiming to understand certain movement disorders (like bradykinesia or tics). Finally, over the second year of the grant we have been able to demonstrate that muscle signals provide highly reliable information about ongoing rhythmic activities in the brain. This finding implies that it is possible to design future closed-loop platforms that can target highly specific brain states by using muscle signals recorded with surface electrodes on the skin.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз