Agonist-antagonist myoneural interface surgery on the proprioceptive reconstruction of rat hind limb

Currently, prosthesis users rely on visual cues to control their prosthesis. One reason for this is that prostheses cannot provide users with proprioceptive functional signals. For this reason, we propose an agonist-antagonist myoneural interface (AMI) surgery. We examined how this surgery affects the restoration of motor function and proprioceptive reconstruction in the hind limb of Sprague-Dawley rats. The procedure entails grafting the soleus muscle, suturing the two tendon ends of the soleus muscle, and anastomosing the tibial and common peroneal nerves to the soleus muscle. We found that, following surgery, AMI rats exhibited improved neurological repair, shorter walking swings, braking, propulsion, and stance times, and greater compound action potentials than control rats. This means that in rats with neurological impairment of the hind limb, the proposed AMI surgical method significantly improves postoperative walking stability and muscle synergy. AMI surgery may become an option for regaining proprioception in the lost limb.