# Simulations of spinal cord recruitment to optimize bioelectronic interventions for lower urinary tract control

> **NIH NIH OT2** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $887,770

## Abstract

Lower urinary tract (LUT) dysfunction occurs in 20-40% of the global population and has an
economic impact measured in tens of billions of dollars every year in the United States. This field
desperately needs new therapies as current treatments, such as clean intermittent catheterization
and pharmaceuticals, have significant side effects. Epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS)
provides a potential solution. SCS is a rapidly growing area of bioelectronic medicine, with tens
of thousands of implants occurring each year in the United States. While SCS normally activates
the dorsal columns, this technique can also be used to recruit primary sensory neurons as they
enter the spinal cord through the dorsal rootlets. These sensory inputs play a crucial role in
regulating bladder function6 and activating these primary sensory neurons can have powerful
effects on bladder behavior. Through ongoing SPARC efforts, our team has established that high-resolution
SCS can selectively recruit sacral afferents leading to both micturition and continence
reflexes. These data support our ultimate translational goal to develop a SGS therapy to improve
bladder function after injury and disease. However, a critical gap remains to understand, develop
and optimize these neuromodulation therapies. There are no models that accurately represent
the complex sacral spinal anatomy, and previous modelling efforts have consistently ignored the
dorsal rootlets. In this project, we will develop functionalized, anatomically accurate models of the
cat sacral spinal cord. including the dorsal rootlets, and validate these models using
electrophysioloqical data acquired under an existing SPARC effort.
Task 1: Create a pipeline for anatomically accurate, ultra-high resolution finite element
models of the cat sacral spinal cord
Accurate anatomy is critical for biophysical models of stimulation-evoked neural recruitment.
However, these structures have been underappreciated in modelling efforts, in part due to their
anatomical complexity. We will use diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and structural magnetic
resonance imaging to acquire detailed anatomy of the sacral spinal cord in the cat, including
dorsal and ventral rootlet fiber pathways and develop a pipeline within o2S2PARC segment these
images and create finite element method (FEM) models of these tissues. Year 1: Imaging dataset
of sacral spinal cord in one cat and preliminary pipeline. Year 2: Imaging datasets for four spinal
cords to validate anatomical model creation pipeline.
Task 2: Create finite element models, functionalized with computational axon models, and
validate recruitment using existing electrophysiological data
We will use Sim4Life and the o2S2PARC platform to mesh and populate simplified and
anatomically accurate spinal cord models with populations of pelvic, pudenda! and sciatic nerve
axons that project into the cord. DTI data will be used to create realistic 3D axon trajectories and
the model will be validated using e...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10207979
- **Project number:** 1OT2OD030537-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert A Gaunt
- **Activity code:** OT2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $887,770
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10207979

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10207979, Simulations of spinal cord recruitment to optimize bioelectronic interventions for lower urinary tract control (1OT2OD030537-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10207979. Licensed CC0.

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