Exploring the Influence of Structured Familiarization to an Adjustable, Passive Load-Bearing Exoskeleton on Oxygen Consumption and Lower Limb Muscle Activation During Walking.

Walking patterns are modified during load carriage, resulting in an increased activation of lower limb muscles and energy expenditure. Negative effects of load carriage could be minimized by wearing an exoskeleton, but evidence on the effects are conflicting. The objectives of this study were to describe the influence of an adjustable, passive load-bearing exoskeleton on the metabolic cost of walking (MCW) and associated muscle activations, and to explore changes in MCW after a familiarization process.

Alteration of ankle proprioceptive threshold during gait in the presence of acute experimental pain.

Objective: Human gait requires complex somatosensory processing of various inputs such as proprioception. Proprioception can be altered in the presence of pain. This has been shown mostly during controlled tasks, thereby limiting the influence of external perturbations.

Enhancing KCC2 function counteracts morphine-induced hyperalgesia.

Morphine-induced hyperalgesia (MIH) is a severe adverse effect accompanying repeated morphine treatment, causing a paradoxical decrease in nociceptive threshold. Previous reports associated MIH with a decreased expression of the Cl extruder KCC2 in the superficial dorsal horn (SDH) of the spinal cord, weakening spinal GABA/glycine-mediated postsynaptic inhibition. Here, we tested whether the administration of small molecules enhancing KCC2, CLP257 and its pro-drug CLP290, may counteract MIH.