Spinal amyotrophy: electrical stimulation helps 3 patients to work better

Spinal amyotrophy is a rare neurodegenerative genetic genetic disease which is characterized by muscle weakness which can lead to membership of the members, mostly inferior. People with this pathology have few therapeutic solutions available to them.

The first results of a promising clinical trial, led by the University of Pittsburgh, pave the way for new hope. Three patients with spinal amyotrophy display an improvement in their function of motor neurons, their muscle strength, but also from their march after having benefited from regular sessions of electrical stimulation of sensory spinal nerves.

These works were presented in the journal Medicine nature February 5, 2025.

Stimulation of the spinal cord: the 20 -meter improved walking score

Faced with the different knowledge collected on spinal amyotrophy and its progression, scientists have advanced the idea that electrical stimulation targeting the spinal cord could help restore the function of lost nerve cells by amplifying sensory inputs to motor neurons and Engaging degenerate neural circuits, and by domino effect Improve the movement’s movement capacities.

To verify this hypothesis, three volunteers with the lightest forms of the neurodegenerative disorder have been recruited. Two electrical stimulation electrodes were located in the lumbar region on each side of the spinal cord, directing stimulation exclusively towards the sensory nerve roots. The sessions lasted four hours each and were carried out five times a week until the aircraft withdrawn 29 days later. During this essay, muscle strength, fatigue, procedure changes, the amplitude of movements and the walking distance, as well as the function of the engineer of the participants were measured.

Result: all patients increased their score to the 6 -minute walking test (a measure of muscle and fatigue endurance) and at least 20 meters. By way of comparison, the average improvement during a comparable exercise program without helping three -month stimulation is 1.4 meters.

“These functional gains have resulted in an improvement in neuronal function, in particular an increase in the capacity of motor neurons to generate electrical impulses and to transmit them to muscles”write the authors in their press release.

Spinal amyotrophy: “I have a slightly more natural approach”

Doug McCullough, one of the three volunteers of the study, testified to the progress he made during this therapy of stimulating the spinal cord. The man who had difficulty walking on smooth surfaces before the test, explains “Like my hip flexor muscles are so weak, I have a dandinating approach, my hips swing from front to back and I swing my legs to the side because I cannot raise them”. He then continues: “We could clearly see in the video that my approach had improved and that I was walking faster. I had a slightly more natural approach. It was not yet completely normal, but it was better than before ‘study”.

“Spinal amyotrophy being an evolutionary disease, patients do not expect an improvement in their condition over time. But that’s not what we have found in our study. During the four weeks of , participants in our study saw their condition improve in several clinical areas, especially in their daily activities.adds Elvira Pirondini, corresponding co-author and assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation to the Pitt School of Medicine.

Satisfied with these first results, the team hopes to continue their research to confirm the long -term efficiency and safety of the treatment by electrical stimulation of spinal cord in patients with spinal amyotrophy. She also argues that “This approach to neurostimulation could be widely applied to deal with other neurodegenerative diseases beyond spinal amyotrophy, such as Huntington SLA, provided that appropriate cellular targets are identified during future research“. Another possible point of new research.