Somatosensory-evoked blink response: investigation of the physiological mechanisms

The somatosensory-evoked blink response (SBR) is a newly identified blink reflex elicited by electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves. The present study was performed to investigate the physiological mechanism underlying the SBR elicited by median nerve stimulation in normal subjects. The peripheral afferents responsible for the SBR included low-threshold cutaneous fibres. In the SBR-positive subjects, the late (R2) component of the blink reflex elicited by supraorbital nerve stimulation and the SBR facilitated each other when both responses were induced at the same time, but they each caused long-lasting inhibition in the other when one stimulus was given as a conditioning stimulus. The extent of inhibition was correlated with the size of the preceding SBR. In the SBR-negative subjects, simultaneous inhibition of R2 was observed when median nerve stimulation was applied as a conditioning stimulus. Brainstem excitability, as evaluated by blink-reflex recovery studies, did not differ between SBR-positive and SBR-negative subjects. Therefore, based on anatomical and physiological findings, it appears that the reflex pathways of the SBR and R2 converge within the brainstem and compete with each other, presumably by presynaptic inhibition at the premotor level, before entering the common blink-reflex pathway. The influence of median nerve stimulation upon tonic contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle was studied to detect the latent SBR. There was not only a facilitatory period corresponding to the SBR but also an active inhibitory period (exteroceptive suppression), suggesting that the mechanism generating the SBR is not only influenced by blink-reflex volleys but also by active exteroceptive suppression. Thus, the SBR may appear as a result of integration of facilitatory and inhibitory mechanisms within the brainstem.