Perception of Electrical Stimuli in Individuals With Stroke

Stroke Clinical Trial

Official title:

Perception of Electrical Stimuli During Muscle Activation in Individuals With Stroke

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Enrolling by invitation

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05465005
• Other study ID #: K25HD096116
• Secondary ID: K25HD096116
• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 1, 2022
• Est. completion date: March 2025

Study information

• Verified date: January 2024
• Source: Northwestern University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

To successfully manipulate objects in one's surroundings, such as when lifting a cup, one must accurately perceive their physical interactions. This includes accurately interpreting the tactile cues arising at one's fingertips when touching an object. Currently, tactile perception is assessed in individuals with stroke using passive protocols. Research has yet to explore whether activating one's muscles impacts the tactile perceptual process in individuals with stroke despite previous research demonstrating the effect of muscle activation on tactile perception in individuals who are neurologically intact. The proposed research will be the first to address the impact of muscle activation, in addition to stroke, on tactile perception. As such, the proposed research is significant for advancing our understanding of the extent to which tactile deficits occur in individuals with stroke, particularly during volitional movement.

Description:

Participants will detect an externally-applied electrical stimulus at their fingertip with the elbow: 1) relaxed and flexed to 2) 25% and 3) 50% of their maximum voluntary torque (MVT). We will compare the detection threshold for these three conditions between each arm of participants with stroke and similarly-aged controls. Based on pilot data, we hypothesize that the detection threshold will be largest at the paretic arm when flexing to 50% MVT due to the greatest inhibition of sensory signals. Findings will indicate whether stroke negatively impacts an individual's ability to detect tactile stimuli during volitional sensorimotor tasks.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Enrollment: 45
• Est. completion date: March 2025
• Est. primary completion date: March 2025
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• For the participants with stroke, i) a single unilateral cortical lesion that took place at least one year prior and ii) an absence of comorbid neurological impairments
• Ability to understand and complete the experimental tasks
• Capacity to provide informed consent
• At least 18 years of age

Exclusion Criteria:

• Major injury to either arm
• Sensory neuropathy

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Stroke

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Torque Generation
Relaxed, or flexing about the elbow to 25% or 50% of the maximum elbow torque that one can generate.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Northwestern University Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences	Chicago	Illinois

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Netta Gurari	Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Northwestern University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (7)

Chapman, C. E., Zompa, I. C., Williams, S. R., Shenasa, J. & Jiang, W. Factors influencing the perception of tactile stimuli during movement. in Somesthesis and the Neurobiology of the Somatosensory Cortex (eds. Franzén, O., Johansson, R. & Terenius, L.) 307-320 (Birkhäuser Basel, 1996).

Jacobs BL, Martin-Cora FJ, Fornal CA. Activity of medullary serotonergic neurons in freely moving animals. Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 2002 Oct;40(1-3):45-52. doi: 10.1016/s0165-0173(02)00187-x. — View Citation

Pavlenko, V. B. Self-initiated motor behavioral act-related neuronal activity in the cat Locus Coeruleus. Neurophysiology 35, 29-37 (2003).

Post LJ, Zompa IC, Chapman CE. Perception of vibrotactile stimuli during motor activity in human subjects. Exp Brain Res. 1994;100(1):107-20. doi: 10.1007/BF00227283. — View Citation

Seki K, Fetz EE. Gating of sensory input at spinal and cortical levels during preparation and execution of voluntary movement. J Neurosci. 2012 Jan 18;32(3):890-902. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4958-11.2012. — View Citation

Seki K, Perlmutter SI, Fetz EE. Sensory input to primate spinal cord is presynaptically inhibited during voluntary movement. Nat Neurosci. 2003 Dec;6(12):1309-16. doi: 10.1038/nn1154. Epub 2003 Nov 16. — View Citation

Wei K, Glaser JI, Deng L, Thompson CK, Stevenson IH, Wang Q, Hornby TG, Heckman CJ, Kording KP. Serotonin affects movement gain control in the spinal cord. J Neurosci. 2014 Sep 17;34(38):12690-700. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1855-14.2014. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Detection threshold	Minimum magnitude of current at which an electrical stimulus can be detected	~5 minutes