Electrical stimulation to reduce neuroinflammation after spinal cord injury

The spinal cord has an important role in relaying information between the brain and the rest of the body, and any damage to this structure will be reflected in the patient's quality of life. However, 50'000 people in the UK are living with a spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injuries differ greatly between patients, but are hallmarked by neuronal death, inflammation and scar formation that prevents regeneration and functional recovery. Current approaches using drugs to reduce inflammation are nonspecific and lead to unwanted side effects. Non-invasive electrical stimulation has emerged as an attractive alternative to achieving neuroimmunomodulation with greater selectivity. Temporal interference stimulation is a non-invasive method that involves the application of two high frequency electric fields that are offset by a modulation frequency that is greatest where the two fields constructively interfere.

Thus, the injury site can be selectively targeted while reducing off-target activation. The use of electrical stimulation on immune effectors in spinal cord injury, such as microglia, may offer insight into reducing tissue damage whilst simultaneously improving repair and recovery and has high potential for clinical translation.