Skip to main content
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry logoLink to Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
. 1977 Aug;40(8):756–764. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.40.8.756

Electrophysiological and anatomical estimation of the number of motor units in the monkey extensor digitorum brevis muscle.

J M Peyronnard, Y Lamarre
PMCID: PMC492831  PMID: 411892

Abstract

The electrophysiological technique used to estimate the number of motor units in man (McComas et al., 1971b) was tested in six monkeys. The number of motor units was estimated electrophysiologically in the extensor digitorum brevis (EDB) after deafferentation by excision of the lumbo-sacral dorsal root ganglia. In five animals, the mean number of motor units obtained by the technique was in good agreement with the number of alpha motor fibres counted in the nerve to EDB. However, the results obtained in one animal with partial denervation of the EDB indicate that the technique might be unreliable, at least at certain stages, after a peripheral nerve lesion.

Full text

PDF
756

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BROWN M. C., MATTHEWS P. B. An investigation into the possible existence of polyneuronal innervation of individual skeletal muscle fibres in certain hind-limb muscles of the cat. J Physiol. 1960 Jun;151:436–457. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1960.sp006450. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Ballantyne J. P., Hansen S. A new method for the estimation of the number of motor units in a muscle. I. Control subjects and patients with myasthenia gravis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1974 Aug;37(8):907–915. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.37.8.907. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brown W. F., Milner-Brown H. S. Some electrical properties of motor units and their effects on the methods of estimating motor unit numbers. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1976 Mar;39(3):249–257. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.39.3.249. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Campbell M. J., McComas A. J., Petito F. Physiological changes in ageing muscles. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1973 Apr;36(2):174–182. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.36.2.174. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Coggeshall R. E., Coulter J. D., Willis W. D., Jr Unmyelinated axons in the ventral roots of the cat lumbosacral enlargement. J Comp Neurol. 1974 Jan 1;153(1):39–58. doi: 10.1002/cne.901530105. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Eisen A., Karpati G., Carpenter S., Danon J. The motor unit profile of the rat soleus in experimental myopathy and reinnervation. Neurology. 1974 Sep;24(9):878–884. doi: 10.1212/wnl.24.9.878. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Engel W. K. Brief, small, abundant motor-unit action potentials. A further critique of electromyographic interpretation. Neurology. 1975 Feb;25(2):173–176. doi: 10.1212/wnl.25.2.173. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Feasby T. E., Brown W. F. Variation of motor unit size in the human extensor digitorum brevis and thenar muscles. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1974 Aug;37(8):916–926. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.37.8.916. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. MCPHEDRAN A. M., WUERKER R. B., HENNEMAN E. PROPERTIES OF MOTOR UNITS IN A HOMOGENEOUS RED MUSCLE (SOLEUS) OF THE CAT. J Neurophysiol. 1965 Jan;28:71–84. doi: 10.1152/jn.1965.28.1.71. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. McComas A. J., Campbell M. J., Sica R. E. Electrophysiological study of dystrophia myotonica. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1971 Apr;34(2):132–139. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McComas A. J., Sica R. E., Currie S. An electrophysiological study of Duchenne dystrophy. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1971 Aug;34(4):461–468. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.34.4.461. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McComas A. J., Sica R. E., Upton A. R., Aguilera N. Functional changes in motoneurones of hemiparetic patients. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1973 Apr;36(2):183–193. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.36.2.183. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. McLeod J. G., Wray S. H. Conduction velocity and fibre diameter of the median and ulnar nerves of the baboon. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1967 Jun;30(3):240–247. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.30.3.240. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Panayiotopoulos C. P., Scarpalezos S., Papapetropoulos T. Electrophysiological estimation of motor units in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. J Neurol Sci. 1974 Sep;23(1):89–98. doi: 10.1016/0022-510x(74)90145-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Sica R. E., McComas A. J. An electrophysiological investigation of limb-girdle and facioscapulohumeral dystrophy. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1971 Aug;34(4):469–474. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.34.4.469. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wray S. H. Innervation ratios for large and small limb muscles in the baboon. J Comp Neurol. 1969 Oct;137(2):227–250. doi: 10.1002/cne.901370207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES