A Phase 2 interventional study of CST PAS and RST PAS in Healthy Control and Spinal Cord Injury, sponsored by Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 19 Years to 85 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-14.
Sponsored by Shirley Ryan AbilityLab · Phase 2, Interventional, and Other
This study will investigate how aging and spinal cord injury (SCI) affect the transmission and plasticity of the corticospinal and reticulospinal tracts, which are important pathways for motor control. The study includes two experiments. Experiment 1 will assess corticospinal and reticulospinal tract transmission to lower-limb muscles in older adults with and without SCI. Experiment 2 will examine how aging and spinal cord injury affect the body's ability to strengthen nerve pathways involved in movement. The investigators will compare two pathways that help control leg movement, the corticospinal and reticulospinal pathways, to determine whether aging affects these pathways differently and whether spinal cord injury has a greater effect on the corticospinal pathway.
2,025 studies on the registry are indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries; 537 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 300 is above the median of 24 across 1,633 interventional studies indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries.
Browse Spinal Cord Injuries studies →Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is the lead sponsor of 180 studies on the registry; 44 are open to participants now.
Of its 10 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 4 (40%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
Exclusion criteria for controls:
- Same as for subjects with SCI.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation are given at almost the same time to target brain-to-spinal cord connections in controls and humans with spinal cord injury
Other: CST PAS
Electrical stimulation with a loud sound and peripheral nerve stimulation are given at almost the same time to target brainstem-to-spinal cord connections in controls and humans with spinal cord injury
Other: RST PAS
The setup will look and feel the same to the participant as the CST PAS or RST PAS. But one or both of the stimulations is not actually delivered, or it is delivered in a way that does not affect the participant. This will apply to controls and humans with spinal cord injury
Other: sham PAS
transcranial magnetic stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation are given at almost the same time to target brain-to-spinal cord connections
electrical stimulation with a loud sound and peripheral nerve stimulation are given at almost the same time to target brainstem-to-spinal cord connections
the setup will look and feel the same to the participant as the CST PAS or RST PAS. But one or both of the stimulations is not actually delivered, or it is delivered in a way that does not affect the participant
Motor evokoed potential
Transcranial magnetic stimuli (TMS) will be delivered from a Magstim 200 stimulator (Magstim Company) through a double-cone coil with a monophasic current waveform. TMS will be delivered to the optimal scalp position for activation of upper or lower limb muscles. The optimal scalp position will be determined by moving the coil in small steps along the arm/leg muscle representation of the primary motor cortex to find the region where the largest MEP can be evoked with the minimum intensity in the targeted muscles. The muscles to be activated will be upper limb muscles such as deltoid, biceps, triceps, extensor carpi radialis, flexor carpi radialis and/or first dorsal interosseous; lower limb muscles such as quadriceps, hamstrings, tibialis anterior, soleus, and/or abductor hallucis muscles. Only the authorized research team will use the device and the investigator will comply with USFDA requirements for monitoring, records and reports. The research team will not market or promote the
Time frame: Periprocedural
MVC
Individuals will perform a maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of the targeted muscles through surface electrodes secured to the skin over the belly of each muscle (Ag-AgCl, 10 mm diameter). The signals will be amplified, filtered (20-1000 Hz), and sampled at 10 kHz for offline analysis.
Time frame: Periprocedural
StartReact
The StartReact response will allow us make inferences about the contribution of the reticulospinal tract to spasticity. The StartReact response will be tested using a previously described paradigm in humans with and without SCI. Here, participants will be asked to observe a light-emitting diode (LED) located \~1 m in front of the participants' head. When the LED will illuminate (20 ms), individuals will be asked to perform an isometric elbow, knee and/or ankle flexion or an isometric elbow, knee and/or ankle extension as fast as possible. We will measure the visual reaction time (VRT) as the time from cue to onset of the EMG burst in the elbow muscles after the LED presentation. In some trials, the LED will be presented with either a quiet acoustic stimulus (80 dB, 500 Hz, 50 ms) or a startling acoustic stimulus (SAS, 120 dB, 500 Hz, 50 ms) delivered through a headphone. The time delay between the presentation of the quiet acoustic stimulus and the onset of the EMG response refer as th
Time frame: Periprocedural
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.