Reggie Edgerton

My lab studies how neural networks in the lumbar spinal cord of mammals control stepping, and how this stepping pattern is modified by imposing specific motor tasks on the limbs after spinal cord injury. We have learned that load-bearing sensory information can serve as the controller of these tasks and that performance can be further improved with pharmacological interventions and stimulation of the spinal cord.

We have shown that an adult rat with a complete mid-thoracic spinal cord transection can regain full weight-bearing stepping over a range of speeds, loads, and directions when the spinal cord is tonically stimulated to increase the excitability of the lumbosacral locomotor circuitry. It now seems possible to develop a technology that will enable the recovery of postural and locomotor function in humans after a motor complete spinal cord injury.

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