Positive Technology Journal

Neural engineers at Huntington Medical Research Institutes were able to use chronically implanted neuroprosthetic device inside the spinal cord. The device, consisting of an array of micrometer-sized spiny electrodes, was used to treat bladder paralysis in spinal cord-injured animals. The electrodes were located throughout the spinal cord tissue, and stimulation near the middle of the cord in the area called the dorsal gray commissure was most effective in inducing a bladder voiding reflex. Unlike the previously-used approaches of stimulating spinal roots or nerves which contain mixed fibers innervating multiple organs, the intraspinal stimulation was shown to be very specific and induced near-complete bladder emptying.

The article is coming out in the December issue of Journal of Neural Engineering and is available online at http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/1741-2552/4/4/002/