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SUMMARY A detailed investigation of nerve conduction was made in a patient with Guillain-Barre disease. Conduction velocity and configuration of the compound action potential in distal (median) In an attempt to shed further light on these questions, serial measurement of proximal and distal sensory and motor conduction was done in a patient with Guillain-Barre disease, throughout the initial phase of motor weakness and during subsequent recovery. MethodsThe patient was a 23-year-old female who was in excellent health until two weeks prior to hospitalisation, when, subsequent to a mild upper respiratory infection, she experienced a "warm" sensation from her navel to her toes. This sensation alternated with feelings of chills or "numbness" in the same distribution.Pain in the lumbar portion of her back subsequently developed but no bladder or bowel incontinence occurred. A feeling of "heaviness" developed in her legs and her gait became slow and unsteady. Weakness in the arms, tingling of the face, of the tongue and of the fingertips then developed. At the time of her admission she was still able to walk, albeit with a clumsy, slow gait. Considerable pelvic, hip and thigh weakness was present. The left arm was weaker than the right but bilateral abduction overhead was still possible. No objective sensory loss could be demonstrated; the deep tendon reflexes were absent. Two days

SUMMARY1. The sensitivity of the cat hind-limb skin to non-noxious heating was studied. Neural activity was recorded with micro-electrodes from intact multifibre fascicles of the saphenous nerve while the skin was actively heated or passively cooled.2. Moderate warming from indifferent temperatures of 30-34' C to temperatures of 38-39' C produced a reduction in the total rate of firing of the integrated discharge. Firing picked up sharply again at skin temperatures above 390 C. A considerable fraction of the impulse activity elicited above 39°C was carried by C-fibre afferents.3. Prolonged heating to temperatures in excess of 450 C rendered the skin insensitive to further non-noxious heating or to touch.4. The neural response to a step increase in skin temperature consisted of a delayed overshoot and then a steady-state level of firing. Steady-state firing was proportional to the level of skin temperature.5. Nerves whose C-fibre input to the spinal cord had been selectively blocked showed a potentiation of the neural response to skin heating.6. The sensitivity of hind-limb skin to heating, as judged by the character of the multifibre discharge, appears similar to that reported for a highly warm-sensitive region of the nose.