(290a) Injectable Ventral Spinal Neuroprostheses with Excellent Sensitivity, Fine Motor Control and Chronic Stability

Spinal cord electrical neuromodulation is promising for partial to complete restoration of loss of motor function associated with neuromotor disorders. Current technologies have achieved substantial progress in motor neuron recruitment, but remain limited to dorsal surface or dorsally-inserted devices that either are remote to ventral motor neurons or require physical intervention into the spinal tissue. Here, I will present a spinal neuroprosthesis and minimally-invasive surgical modality for flexible targeting of not only the dorsal, but more importantly the ventral regions of the spinal cord in mice. The spinal devices incorporate a flexible and stretchable design to accommodate strains associated with spinal cord bending in a freely-behaving animal, thereby yielding chronic in-vivo stability. The ventrolaterally implanted devices exhibited 1-2 orders of magnitude lower stimulation threshold, finer motor control and higher fatigue resistance than dorsal implants and enabled programmable complex independent left/right hindlimb motion with functional relevance. These results provide a new paradigm for minimally-invasive and chronically-stable spinal cord neuroprosthetics that directly address motor neurons.