Using novel threshold tracking TMS techniques, the present study investigated the effects of fatiguing hand exercise on different phases of cortical excitability to help clarify the mechanisms underlying the generation of SICI.
Using novel threshold tracking TMS techniques the present study has established, for the first time, functional integrity of corticomotoneurons in patients with acquired neuromyotonia, arguing against a significant central contribution to the process of nerve hyperexcitability, and clearly differentiating acquired neuromyotonia from ALS.
We have used electrical threshold tracking [27] to determine an excitability index that serves as an indirect means of assessing relative changes in membrane potential [26].
Consequently, the present study assessed effects of fatiguing hand exercise on the 2 SICI phases, using threshold tracking transcranial magnetic stimulation techniques, to yield further information on underlying mechanisms.
Axonal excitability studies were performed using previously described threshold tracking protocols applied to the median nerve (Kiernan et al., 2000).
Threshold and slope estimates were obtained by using three estimation procedures: a static procedure assuming stationarity, a relaxed procedure accounting for linear effects of time, and a threshold tracking paradigm.
In both experiments, CF to binaural stimulation was determined with a threshold tracking algorithm.
The quality score-track from the UCSC Genome Browser [ 28] was downloaded and we used a threshold of 40, which corresponds to less then 1 sequencing error per 10,000 bp.
although some studies have used a threshold of 2 × 105 cells/mL6.
In conclusion, using the threshold tracking TMS technique, the present study has established that fatiguing hand exercise reduces SICI at ISI 1 and 3 ms, although the time course of reduction was different for the 2 phases of SICI.
