[Artificial Neural Connection Restores Voluntary Motor Function After Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury]

Artificial neural connection (ANC) establishes an artificial neural pathway to connect distant neuromuscular substrates using a computer interface. Our series of studies have demonstrated three events achieved by ANC. 1)ANC compensated the voluntary motor pathways damaged by stroke and spinal cord injury (SCI). 2)ANC provided a novel function for the neuron to input its information into the ANC. 3)ANC induced plastic changes in the existing neural connectivity between the neural substrates connected by ANC. In the preset literature, we expound the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the three events and introduce theoretical neural backgrounds in restoring and recovering impaired voluntary locomotor function after stroke and SCI.