Citation

Vogelstein RJ, Tenore F, Etienne-Cummings R, Lewis MA, Cohen AH. Biol. Cybern. 2006; 95(6): 555-566.

Affiliation

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. jvogelst@bme.jhu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00422-006-0119-z

PMID

17139511

Abstract

We show that an ongoing locomotor pattern can be dynamically controlled by applying discrete pulses of electrical stimulation to the central pattern generator (CPG) for locomotion. Data are presented from a pair of experiments on biological (wetware) and electrical (hardware) models of the CPG demonstrating that stimulation causes brief deviations from the CPG's limit cycle activity. The exact characteristics of the deviation depend strongly on the phase of stimulation. Applications of this work are illustrated by examples showing how locomotion can be controlled by using a feedback loop to monitor CPG activity and applying stimuli at the appropriate times to modulate motor output. Eventually, this approach could lead to development of a neuroprosthetic device for restoring locomotion after paralysis.

Language: en