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. 2014 Aug 15;592(Pt 16):3345–3369. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2013.270280

Figure 7. Effects of anodal transcutaneous spinal cord direct current stimulation (spinal tDCS) on the lower limb flexion reflexes (LL-Fr).

Figure 7

A, trace B (baseline) shows a typical LL-Fr recording from a representative healthy subject. LL-Fr is a polysynaptic spinal reflex elicited by electrical stimulation applied to a sensory nerve. LL-Fr comprises an early response (RIIr) and a late response (RIIIr). RIIIr is a high-threshold nociceptive Aδ fibre-mediated reflex that corresponds to the pain threshold (RIIIr threshold) and pain perception (RIIIr size). LL-Fr was elicited from the sural nerve and responses were recorded from the ipsilateral brevis head of the biceps femoris muscle. The stimulus (5 electrical pulses, pulse duration 1 ms, frequency 200 Hz) was delivered randomly every 5–20 s. The stimulus intensity was set at 120% of RIIIr threshold (average of 5 responses for each leg). RIIIr decreased after anodal spinal tDCS (grey circle) immediately after (T0) and 30 min (T30) after stimulation ended. Sham stimulation left RIII area unchanged (B). Modified from Cogiamanian et al. 2011, with permission.