title: Corticospinal neuroprostheses to restore locomotion after spinal cord injury.
abstract: In this conceptual review, we highlight our strategy for, and progress in the development of corticospinal neuroprostheses for restoring locomotor functions and promoting neural repair after thoracic spinal cord injury in experimental animal models. We specifically focus on recent developments in recording and stimulating neural interfaces, decoding algorithms, extraction of real-time feedback information, and closed-loop control systems. Each of these complex neurotechnologies plays a significant role for the design of corticospinal neuroprostheses. Even more challenging is the coordinated integration of such multifaceted technologies into effective and practical neuroprosthetic systems to improve movement execution, and augment neural plasticity after injury. In this review we address our progress in rodent animal models to explore the viability of a technology-intensive strategy for recovery and repair of the damaged nervous system. The technical, practical, and regulatory hurdles that lie ahead along the path toward clinical applications are enormous - and their resolution is uncertain at this stage. However, it is imperative that the discoveries and technological developments being made across the field of neuroprosthetics do not stay in the lab, but instead reach clinical fruition at the fastest pace possible.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Borton
authors.affiliation: Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonizzato
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Janine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beauparlant
authors.affiliation: Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DiGiovanna
authors.affiliation: Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland; Automatic Control Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Eduardo M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Moraud
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nikolaus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wenger
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Musienko
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Soft Bioelectronic Interfaces, Center for Neuroprosthetics, IMT/IBI, EPFL, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ivan R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Minev
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Soft Bioelectronic Interfaces, Center for Neuroprosthetics, IMT/IBI, EPFL, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stéphanie P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Lacour
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Non-Invasive Brain-Machine Interface, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: José del R
authors.initials: Jdel R
authors.lastname: Millán
authors.affiliation: Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland; The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvestro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Micera
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: gregoire.courtine@epfl.ch.
authors.forename: Grégoire
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Courtine
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D062207:Brain-Computer Interfaces; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*; D058117:Neural Prostheses; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae
keywords: Brain–machine interface; Neuromotor rehabilitation; Neuroprosthetics; Spinal interface