Proprioceptive modulation of somatosensory evoked potentials during active or passive finger movements in man.

Abstract

SUMMARY The effects of active and passive finger movements on somatosensory potentials evoked by stimulation of the median nerve at the wrist or of finger I were investigated in 15 healthy volunteers. As compared to the resting condition, both active and passive movements of the stimulated hand fingers induced a marked reduction in the amplitude of the primary cerebral response (N20-P25 complex) as well as of the N 17 SEP component, which is supposed to reflect the activity of the thalamo-cortical radiation. The following cerebral SEP components, within 100 ms after the stimulus, were also depressed during motor activity. Neither N 11 nor N 13 components of the cervical response, reflecting the activation of dorsal columns and dorsal column nuclei respectively, were modified. The SEP changes induced by active or passive movements were absent after ischaemic block of large group I afferent fibres from the hand, thus suggesting the relevance of the feedback generated by such peripheral afferents during movement. The results indicate that the activation of peripheral receptors (probably muscle spindle endings) during both active and passive finger movement would induce a gating effect at both cortical and subcortical (thalamic) level, which might modulate selectively the different sensory inputs to the cortex.

Capture of kinesthesis by a competing cutaneous input

“…A crucial difference between earlier work and the research presented here seems to be that tactile stimuli were presented on the moving limb in earlier experiments. Here, tactile and kinesthetic stimulation arose at different hands and, as such, our findings seem analogous to those of Abbruzzese, Ratto, Favale, and Abbruzzese (1981) in that, although object form is provided by kinesthetic information, we do not notice these movements because of gating at particular levels (e.g., spinal). Instead, we notice the features of the objects (Stoeckel et al, 2004).…”

Stretch Evoked Potentials in Healthy Subjects and After Stroke: A Potential Measure for Proprioceptive Sensorimotor Function

“…Some of the earliest components of the SSEP are suppressed during active and passive movement, as compared to a resting condition [30], [31]. This effect is known as "gating" and represents the modulation of the sensitivity of the cortex to various, competing sources of sensory information.…”

Movement-induced gain modulation of somatosensory potentials and soleus H-reflexes evoked from the leg II. Correlation with rate of stretch of extensor muscles of the leg

“…There is support in the literature for the view that Ia drive is largely responsible for the observed gain attenuations. Movement-related SEP attenuation was shown by Abbruzzese et al (1981) to be dependent on peripheral afferents. With stimulation in the upper limb, ischaemic block of large group I afferents abolished movement-related SEP gain modulations.…”

“…centripetally). This is true for passive movements of the upper (Abbruzzese et al 1981;Chapman et al 1988;Cheron and Borenstein 1987;Huttunen and Hömberg 1991;Knecht et al 1993;Rushton et al 1981) and lower limbs (Brooke et al 1996;Duysens et al 1995;Staines et al 1994). As in the previous paper, we use the term "change in gain" to refer to a change in the magnitude of the evoked response when the stimulus input remains constant.…”