Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35583160›Full record

ArticleBrain : a journal of neurology2022

Stimulation of the cuneiform nucleus enables training and boosts recovery after spinal cord injury.

Anna-Sophie Hofer, Myriam I Scheuber, Andrea M Sartori, Nicolas Good, Stephanie A Stalder, Nicole Hammer, Kai Fricke, Sina M Schalbetter, Anne K Engmann, Rebecca Z Weber and 5 more

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain : a journal of neurology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed
4.7field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Enhanced Reticulospinal Output in Subacute Spinal Cord Injury Patients with Spasticity.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. The Mesencephalic Locomotor Region: Multiple Cell Types, Multiple Behavioral Roles, and Multiple Implications for Disease.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2024
    Review
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Cholinergic Modulation of Locomotor Circuits in Vertebrates.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Anna-Sophie HoferBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0003-1930-2140
Myriam I ScheuberBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Andrea M SartoriBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Nicolas GoodBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Stephanie A StalderBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Nicole HammerInstitute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Zurich, 8952 Schlieren, Switzerland.
Kai FrickeBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Sina M SchalbetterBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Anne K EngmannBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Rebecca Z WeberBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Ruslan RustBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Marc P SchneiderBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Natalie RussiBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Giacomin FavreDepartment of Economics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
Martin E SchwabBrain Research Institute, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
University of Zurich · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Severe spinal cord injuries result in permanent paraparesis in spite of the frequent sparing of small portions of white matter. Spared fibre tracts are often incapable of maintaining and modulating the activity of lower spinal motor centres. Effects of rehabilitative training thus remain limited. Here, we activated spared descending brainstem fibres by electrical deep brain stimulation of the cuneiform nucleus of the mesencephalic locomotor region, the main control centre for locomotion in the brainstem, in adult female Lewis rats. We show that deep brain stimulation of the cuneiform nucleus enhances the weak remaining motor drive in highly paraparetic rats with severe, incomplete spinal cord injuries and enables high-intensity locomotor training. Stimulation of the cuneiform nucleus during rehabilitative aquatraining after subchronic (n = 8 stimulated versus n = 7 unstimulated versus n = 7 untrained rats) and chronic (n = 14 stimulated versus n = 9 unstimulated versus n = 9 untrained rats) spinal cord injury re-established substantial locomotion and improved long-term recovery of motor function. We additionally identified a safety window of stimulation parameters ensuring context-specific locomotor control in intact rats (n = 18) and illustrate the importance of timing of treatment initiation after spinal cord injury (n = 14). This study highlights stimulation of the cuneiform nucleus as a highly promising therapeutic strategy to enhance motor recovery after subchronic and chronic incomplete spinal cord injury with direct clinical applicability.

Indexed as

Midbrain Reticular FormationSpinal Cord InjuriesAnimalsBrain StemFemaleLocomotionRatsRats, Inbred LewRecovery of FunctionSpinal Cordcuneiform nucleusdeep brain stimulationmesencephalic locomotor regionrehabilitative trainingspinal cord injury

Identifiers

PMID35583160
PMCPMC9586551
OpenAlexW4280577556

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.