CLOSED-LOOP NEUROMODULATION THERAPY FOR PERSONALISED AND AUTOMATED VISCERAL CONTROL

Abstract

Over the past few decades a variety of implantable bioelectronics have been successfully developed to treat chronic disorders, for example cochlear implants to restore hearing, deep brain stimulators to reduce Parkinson’s Disease motor symptoms, or sacral anterior root stimulator (SARS) for spinal cord injury patients bladder emptying. However, commercially available devices are not equipped with a closed-loop regulator for adaptive and automated control of the system. In this Thesis, I describe a bladder control strategy developed in our lab. We used bladder pressure signals and pelvic nerve stimulation to create a closed-loop system with multiple epochs of stimulation for more complete bladder emptying. Bladder pressure and starting current were calibrated for each animal. Our results showed that the personalized, adaptive closed-loop system achieved>75% voiding in anesthetized rats. This novel approach provides a basis for developing an implantable closed-loop neural prosthesis for treating bladder dysfunctions in the future.