Recruitment of dorsal column fibers in spinal cord stimulation: influence of collateral branching

Author

Struijk, Johannes J. ; Holsheimer, Jan ; Van der Heide, Gerlof G. ; Boom, Herman B K

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Twente Univ., Enschede, Netherlands

Volume

39

Issue

9

fYear

1992

Firstpage

903

Lastpage

912

Abstract

An electrical network model of myelinated dorsal column nerve fibers is presented. The effect of electrical simulation 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.

Keywords

bioelectric phenomena; neurophysiology; physiological models; blocking threshold; collateral branching; dorsal column fibers recruitment; electrical network model; excitation threshold; external monopolar stimulation; homogeneous volume conductor; rostro-caudal fibers; spinal cord stimulation; transmembrane potentials; unbranched fibers; Distributed control; Electrical stimulation; Electrodes; Intelligent networks; Nerve fibers; Optical fiber polarization; Pain; Recruitment; Silicon compounds; Spinal cord; Action Potentials; Electric Stimulation; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Humans; Models, Neurological; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated; Neural Conduction; Recruitment, Neurophysiological; Sensory Thresholds; Spinal Cord; Synaptic Transmission; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9294

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/10.256423

Filename

256423