Conditioning Electrical Nerve Stimulation Enhances Functional Rewiring in a Mouse Model of Nerve Transfer to Treat Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

Brain Sci., 2025 · DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15030251 · Published: February 27, 2025

Spinal Cord Injury Regenerative Medicine Neurology

Simple Explanation

Nerve transfer surgery is a modern technique to help people with tetraplegia regain arm and hand function, which significantly improves their daily lives. However, the outcomes of this surgery can vary, limiting its effectiveness. This study explores how conditioning electrical stimulation (CES) might improve these outcomes. The researchers used a mouse model of nerve transfer to treat chronic cervical spinal cord injury. They applied CES to donor nerves before the nerve transfer surgery. The results showed that CES improved the anatomical and functional connections to the targeted muscles. The study also found that CES sped up the recovery of natural behaviors in the mice. The researchers suggest that CES could be a useful way to improve the results of nerve repair surgeries in clinical settings, although they acknowledge limitations due to the small size of the rodent model.

Study Duration

16 weeks post-nerve transfer

Participants

26 C57BL/6J background mice

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
CES of donor nerves one week prior to nerve transfer surgery enhanced anatomical and functional measures of innervation of targeted muscles.
2
CES increased the rate of recovery of naturalistic behavior.
3
CES resulted in enhanced functional connectivity of musculocutaneous nerve motor axons to FCR.

Research Summary

This study investigates the potential of conditioning electrical stimulation (CES) to enhance outcomes in nerve transfer surgery for treating chronic tetraplegia, using a mouse model. The results indicate that CES improves anatomical and functional measures of muscle innervation and accelerates the recovery of naturalistic behavior in mice. The authors conclude that CES could be an effective approach to improve outcomes in clinical nerve repair settings, while acknowledging limitations of the mouse model and suggesting further studies in larger animal models.

Practical Implications

Clinical Application

The findings suggest that CES could be integrated into clinical nerve transfer procedures to potentially improve patient outcomes.

Further Research

The study supports the need for further research in larger animal models to validate the safety and efficacy of CES before clinical implementation.

Therapeutic Development

These results may inform the development of new therapeutic strategies combining surgical nerve repair with electrical stimulation techniques.

Study Limitations

1
the model has some limitations due to the small size of the rodent
2
The size of the mouse nerves limited the granularity of peripheral circuit rewiring that was possible.
3
Size also tempered the pro-regenerative effects of CES relative to sham control.

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