Article
Neurosciences
Charly G. Lecomte, Stephen Mari, Johannie Audet, Angele N. Merlet, Jonathan Harnie, Claudie Beaulieu, Khaled Abdallah, Louis Gendron, Ilya A. Rybak, Boris I. Prilutsky, Alain Frigon
Summary: This study investigates the recovery of locomotion in animals and people with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) in left-right asymmetric conditions. The results show that adjustments in kinematics and muscle activity allow individuals with incomplete SCI to retain the ability to perform asymmetric locomotion.
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Stephen Mari, Charly G. G. Lecomte, Angele N. Merlet, Johannie Audet, Jonathan Harnie, Ilya A. A. Rybak, Boris I. I. Prilutsky, Alain Frigon
Summary: This study investigates the role of cutaneous reflexes in locomotion and their modulation during tied-belt and split-belt conditions. The results show that the reflex patterns and phase modulation in fore- and hindlimb muscles are consistent in both conditions. However, the reflex modulation is reduced in split-belt locomotion, potentially to maintain stability and symmetry.
FRONTIERS IN SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Julia K. Butterfield, Surabhi N. Simha, J. Maxwell Donelan, Steven H. Collins
Summary: Split-belt treadmill walking can extract energy from the environment, and the split-belt rimless wheel model demonstrates how to take advantage of the treadmill. The study shows that the split-belt rimless wheel can steadily walk by capturing energy from the treadmill, adapting to various leg angles and belt speeds. The physical split-belt rimless wheel robot is also able to walk continuously. However, humans do not maximize the energy generated by the treadmill, possibly due to other aspects of walking that limit their ability to benefit from it.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBOTICS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Toshi Nakajima, Nicolas Fortier-Lebel, Trevor Drew
Summary: This study investigates the role of cytoarchitectonic cortical area 4 delta c in visually guided locomotion in cats. The results suggest that this area contributes to interlimb coordination and should be considered as a single functional area for both forelimb-forelimb and forelimb-hindlimb coordination.
Article
Critical Care Medicine
Johannie Audet, Jonathan Harnie, Charly G. Lecomte, Stephen Mari, Angele N. Merlet, Boris I. Prilutsky, Ilya A. Rybak, Alain Frigon
Summary: Studies have shown that adult cats with low-thoracic spinal transection can still perform quadrupedal locomotion on a treadmill, albeit with weakened and more variable coordination between the forelimbs and hindlimbs. Changes in muscle activity reflect spatiotemporal changes in the locomotor pattern.
JOURNAL OF NEUROTRAUMA
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Maryam Ghahramani, Billy Mason, Patrick Pearsall, Wayne Spratford
Summary: Interlimb coordination variability analysis can provide insights into higher order coordination and motor control. This study investigates how the interlimb coordination of healthy individuals changes in different unilateral functional tasks and whether leg dominance affects coordination variability. The results show that linear coordination variability was smaller in step-ups compared to sit-to-stands and continuous hops, while nonlinear coordination variability was larger in hops compared to step-ups and sit-to-stands. Leg dominance did not affect coordination variability in participants with no known injuries.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Simon M. Danner, Courtney T. Shepard, Casey Hainline, Natalia A. Shevtsova, Ilya A. Rybak, David S. K. Magnuson
Summary: Thoracic spinal cord injury affects long propriospinal neurons that interconnect the cervical and lumbar enlargements, and these neurons are crucial for coordinating forelimb and hindlimb locomotor movements. Investigating locomotion over the full range of speeds can reveal otherwise hidden aspects of spinal locomotor control and post-injury recovery, which may not be fully exposed by studying recovery over a limited range of speeds.
EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Andrew C. C. Hagen, Jordan S. S. Acosta, Chaia S. S. Geltser, Brett W. W. Fling
Summary: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease that causes degradation of the myelin sheath and impaired neural communication. Split-belt treadmill training can improve gait symmetry in MS patients, with those most asymmetrical at baseline showing the greatest improvement. Step length asymmetry (SLA) and phase coordination index (PCI) were used as primary outcome measures to assess spatial and temporal gait symmetries. The study found that MS patients retain the ability for gait adaptation and that spatial and temporal locomotor adjustments may involve separate neural mechanisms.
Article
Neurosciences
Lotem Kribus-Shmiel, Yotam Bahat, Meir Plotnik
Summary: The Split belt treadmill (SBTM) has been used for research and rehabilitation to study gait adaptations. The Phase coordination index (PCI) is useful in assessing bilateral coordination, and it was found that 23 strides are sufficient to reliably characterize PCI values.
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Trevor S. Barss, Behdad Parhizi, Jane Porter, Vivian K. Mushahwar
Summary: Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation has the potential to improve sensorimotor rehabilitation by modulating spinal cord circuitry non-invasively. It can alter excitability across multiple segments of the spinal cord with single-site stimulation, and multiple sites of stimulation can converge to facilitate spinal reflex and corticospinal networks. Further mechanistic research is needed to optimize targeted rehabilitation strategies and improve clinical outcomes.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Johannie Audet, Sirine Yassine, Charly G. Lecomte, Stephen Mari, Felix Soucy, Caroline Morency, Angele N. Merlet, Jonathan Harnie, Claudie Beaulieu, Louis Gendron, Ilya A. Rybak, Boris I. Prilutsky, Alain Frigon
Summary: Spinal sensorimotor circuits interact with supraspinal and peripheral inputs to generate quadrupedal locomotion. Ascending and descending spinal pathways ensure coordination between the forelimbs and hindlimbs. Spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts these pathways. Cats spontaneously recover quadrupedal locomotion following staggered hemisections but require balance assistance after the second one. Coordination between the forelimbs and hindlimbs displays 2:1 patterns and becomes weaker and more variable after both hemisections.
Article
Neurosciences
Johannie Audet, Charly G. Lecomte, Jonathan Harnie, Sirine Yassine, Rasha Al Arab, Felix Soucy, Caroline Morency, Stephen Mari, Pierre Jehannin, Angele N. Merlet, Alain Frigon
Summary: This study investigated whether spinal sensorimotor circuits generate hybrid locomotion and how the limbs remain coordinated. The findings suggest that the spinal locomotor networks generate hybrid locomotion by following certain rules at phase transitions, and the hindlimbs maintain consistent left-right out-of-phase alternation in different stepping directions.
JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Piotr Bortnowski, Witold Kawalec, Robert Krol, Maksymilian Ozdoba
Summary: This article measures the vibration frequency of a working conveyor and determines the increase in tension force on the top belt strand using the phenomenon of belt vibration, validating an accurate method for predicting belt vibrations.
Article
Neurosciences
Syusaku Sasada, Toshiki Tazoe, Tsuyoshi Nakajima, Shigeki Omori, Genki Futatsubashi, Tomoyoshi Komiyama
Summary: The increase of CPN reflex during walking may originate from neural coupling between the arms and legs.
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Tal Krasovsky, Or Koren, Benedetta Heimler, Noam Galor, Sharon Hassin-Baer, Gabi Zeilig, Meir Plotnik
Summary: This study presents a new algorithm for predicting freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's Disease (PD) based on altered interlimb coordination. The algorithm uses two inertial movement sensors and a wavelet coherence algorithm. Results show that this method can effectively differentiate between FOG and voluntary stops, with high prediction accuracy.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL SYSTEMS AND REHABILITATION ENGINEERING
(2023)
Editorial Material
Clinical Neurology
Alain Frigon
CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2015)
Article
Neurosciences
Charline Dambreville, Audrey Labarre, Yann Thibaudier, Marie-France Hurteau, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2015)
Article
Neurosciences
Marie-France Hurteau, Yann Thibaudier, Charline Dambreville, Corinne Desaulniers, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2015)
Article
Neurosciences
A. Frigon, Y. Thibaudier, M. -F. Hurteau
Article
Neurosciences
Marie-France Hurteau, Yann Thibaudier, Charline Dambreville, Anass Chraibi, Etienne Desrochers, Alessandro Telonio, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2017)
Article
Neurosciences
Victoria Kuczynski, Alessandro Telonio, Yann Thibaudier, Marie-France Hurteau, Charline Dambreville, Etienne Desrochers, Adam Doelman, Declan Ross, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON
(2017)
Article
Neurosciences
Jonathan Harnie, Celia Cote-Sarrazin, Marie-France Hurteau, Etienne Desrochers, Adam Doelman, Nawal Amhis, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2018)
Article
Neurosciences
Marie-France Hurteau, Yann Thibaudier, Charline Dambreville, Simon M. Danner, Ilya A. Rybak, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2018)
Article
Neurosciences
Marie-France Hurteau, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2018)
Article
Neurosciences
Etienne Desrochers, Jonathan Harnie, Adam Doelman, Marie-France Hurteau, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON
(2019)
Article
Neurosciences
Angele N. Merlet, Jonathan Harnie, Madalina Macovei, Adam Doelman, Nathaly Gaudreault, Alain Frigon
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biology
Jonathan Harnie, Adam Doelman, Emmanuelle de Vette, Johannie Audet, Etienne Desrochers, Nathaly Gaudreault, Alain Frigon
Article
Neurosciences
Jonathan Harnie, Johannie Audet, Alexander N. Klishko, Adam Doelman, Boris I. Prilutsky, Alain Frigon
Summary: The study found that sensorimotor circuits within the spinal cord generate backward locomotion but require additional excitability compared with forward locomotion. Spinal cats showed similar strategies for speed modulation and muscle activations during forward and backward locomotion, indicating a shared spinal locomotor network.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Angele N. Merlet, Jonathan Harnie, Madalina Macovei, Adam Doelman, Nathaly Gaudreault, Alain Frigon
Summary: The study found that mechanically stimulating the perineal region can modulate short-latency cutaneous reflexes in spinal cats by adjusting cycle activity, amplitude, and rhythm timing, thus increasing the excitability of central pattern-generating circuitry. This excitatory effect is not mediated by increasing excitatory inputs from cutaneous afferents of the foot, supporting a state-dependent modulation of reflexes by spinal interneuronal circuits.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Angele N. Merlet, Pierre Jehannin, Stephen Mari, Charly G. Lecomte, Johannie Audet, Jonathan Harnie, Ilya A. Rybak, Boris I. Prilutsky, Alain Frigon
Summary: Coordinating the four limbs is an important feature of terrestrial mammalian locomotion. In this study, electrical stimulation of the hindlimb was found to change the locomotor pattern of all four limbs, leading to increased muscle activity, joint flexion, and toe height in the ipsilateral hindlimb. Support periods also shifted from the stimulated hindlimb to the other limbs.