Stimulus-response curve of human motor nerves: multicenter assessment of various indexes

Neurophysiol Clin. 2008 Feb;38(1):31-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neucli.2007.09.007. Epub 2007 Oct 11.

Abstract

The value of various indexes to characterize the stimulus-response curve of human motor nerves was assessed in 40 healthy subjects recruited from four European centers of investigation (Créteil, Lausanne, Liège, Marseille). Stimulus-response curves were established by stimulating the right median and ulnar motor nerves at the wrist, with stimulus durations of 0.05 and 0.5 ms. The following parameters were studied: the threshold intensity of stimulation to obtain 10% (I 10), 50% (I 50), and 90% (I 90) of the maximal compound muscle action potential, the ratios I 10/I 50, I 90/I 50, (I 90 - I 10)/I 10, (I 90-I 50)/I 50, and (I 50 - I 10)/I 10, and the slopes of the stimulus-response curves with or without normalization to I 50. For each parameter, within-center variability and reproducibility (in a test-retest study) were assessed and between-center comparisons were made. For most of the parameters, the results varied significantly within and between the centers. Within the centers, only the ratios I 10/I 50 and I 90/I 50 were found constant and reproducible. Between the centers, the absolute intensity thresholds (I 10, I 50, I 90) and the ratio I 90/I 50 did not show significant differences at stimulus duration of 0.5 ms, whatever the stimulated nerve. The reduced variability and good reproducibility of the ratios I 10/I 50 and I 90/I 50 open perspectives in neurophysiological practice for the use of these indexes of the stimulus-response curve, a rapid and noninvasive test.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials / physiology
  • Adult
  • Algorithms
  • Electric Stimulation
  • Electrodiagnosis
  • Electromyography
  • Europe
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Median Nerve / physiology
  • Middle Aged
  • Motor Neurons / physiology*
  • Peripheral Nerves / physiology*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Skin Temperature / physiology
  • Ulnar Nerve / physiology