科技前沿：新技术重建脊髓损伤后的触觉感知

美国巴特尔纪念研究所Patrick D. Ganzer等研究人员开发出新的技术，能够重建脊髓损伤后的触觉感知。相关论文于2020年4月23日在线发表在《细胞》杂志上。

研究人员表示，脊髓损伤（SCI）后，可以使用一种人脑-电脑界面（BCI）来增强瘫痪的肌肉，从而增强运动功能。重要的是，触摸感是运动功能的关键组成部分。

研究人员证明，具有临床完整SCI的人类参与者可以利用BCI同时利用自己手残留的触摸信号来同时使运动功能和触觉恢复活力。在初级运动皮层（M1）中，同时从正在进行的传出运动意图中多路分解残留的知觉下手部触摸信号，从而实现皮质内控制的闭环感觉反馈。使用闭环分用BCI几乎完全恢复了检测物体触摸的能力，并显着改善了几种感觉运动功能。还可以从M1解码传入的握力强度级别，从而可以通过触摸信号调节握力。

这些结果表明，可以从皮层解码知觉下的神经信号，并将其转化为意识知觉，从而显著增强功能。

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附：英文原文

Title: Restoring the Sense of Touch Using a Sensorimotor Demultiplexing Neural Interface

Author: Patrick D. Ganzer, Samuel C. Colachis, Michael A. Schwemmer, David A. Friedenberg, Collin F. Dunlap, Carly E. Swiftney, Adam F. Jacobowitz, Doug J. Weber, Marcia A. Bockbrader, Gaurav Sharma

Issue&Volume: 2020-04-23

Abstract: Paralyzed muscles can be reanimated following spinal cord injury (SCI) using a brain-computer interface (BCI) to enhance motor function alone. Importantly, the sense of touch is a key component of motor function. Here, we demonstrate that a human participant with a clinically complete SCI can use a BCI to simultaneously reanimate both motor function and the sense of touch, leveraging residual touch signaling from his own hand. In the primary motor cortex (M1), residual subperceptual hand touch signals are simultaneously demultiplexed from ongoing efferent motor intention, enabling intracortically controlled closed-loop sensory feedback. Using the closed-loop demultiplexing BCI almost fully restored the ability to detect object touch and significantly improved several sensorimotor functions. Afferent grip-intensity levels are also decoded from M1, enabling grip reanimation regulated by touch signaling. These results demonstrate that subperceptual neural signals can be decoded from the cortex and transformed into conscious perception, significantly augmenting function.