AUTHOR=Kitamura In , Frazure Michael , Iceman Kimberly , Koike Takuji , Pitts Teresa 

TITLE=Stochastic electrical stimulation of the thoracic or cervical regions with surface electrodes facilitates swallow in rats

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2024.1390524

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2024.1390524

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Aspiration pneumonia, a leading cause of mortality, poses an urgent challenge in contemporary society. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been commonly used in dysphagia rehabilitation. However, given that NMES at motor threshold targets only specific muscles, it carries a potential risk of further compromising functions related to swallowing, respiration, and airway protection. Considering that the swallow motor pattern is orchestrated by the entire swallow pattern generator (the neural mechanism governing a sequence of swallow actions), a rehabilitation approach that centrally facilitates the entire circuit through sensory nerve stimulation is desirable. In this context, we propose a novel stimulation method using surface electrodes placed on the back to promote swallowing. While the targeted thoracic spinal segments T9-T10 have been investigated for enhancing respiration, the promotion of swallowing through back stimulation has not been previously studied. Furthermore, this study introduces a new probabilistic stimulus based on Gaussian distribution. Probabilistic stimuli have been reported to excel in nerve stimulation in previous research. The efficacy of the proposed method in promoting swallowing was evaluated by electrically stimulating sensory nerves in the back or neck. Probabilistic stimulus was applied to either the back or neck of male and female rats. The results demonstrate that back stimulation effectively facilitated swallow more than neck stimulation and suggests potential applications for swallowing rehabilitation.