Neural basis for human bipedal locomotion -a study relevant to neurorehabilitation-

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23300198
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: NAKAZAWA Kimitaka 東京大学, 総合文化研究科, 教授 (90360677)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 歩行 / 脊髄損傷 / リハビリテーション

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The final goal of this study is to reveal both structure and function of locomotor spinal neural circuits in human. To aproach this goal, passive stepping in water, functional spinal map, and multisegmental motor responses were studied. The results showed that load information might play an important role to facilitate spinal neural circuits(SNC), while somatosensory information related to lower limb kinematics might have inhibitory effect on the SNC. The functional spinal map suggested that the lowre limb muscular activities might be provided from the spinal locomotor circuits that span widely from the lower thoracic levels to the higher lumber level.

Free Research Field

リハビリテーション科学、運動生理学