title: Recruitment of dorsal column fibers in spinal cord stimulation: influence of collateral branching.
abstract: An electrical network model of myelinated dorsal column nerve fibers is presented. The effect of electrical stimulation was investigated using both a homogeneous volume conductor and a more realistic model of the spinal cord. An important feature of dorsal column nerve fibers is the presence of myelinated collaterals perpendicular to the rostro-caudal fibers. It was found that transmembrane potentials, due to external monopolar stimulation, at the node at which a collateral is attached, is significantly influenced by the presence of the collateral. It is concluded that both excitation threshold and blocking threshold of dorsal column fibers are decreased up to 50% compared to unbranched fibers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Struijk
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Holsheimer
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: van der Heide
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Boom
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000502:physiology*; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D011999:Recruitment, Neurophysiological; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation / Q000592:standards