Premium
Is the F wave elicited in a select group of motoneurons?
Author(s) -
Kimura Jun,
Yanagisawa Hideo,
Yamada Thoru,
Mitsudome Akihisa,
Sasaki Hiroyuki,
Kimura Akio
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/mus.880070509
Subject(s) - neuroscience , medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychology
The F wave represents only a small percentage of the motoneuron pool invaded antidromically by any single impulse. We studied 22 median nerves from 11 healthy subjects to determine whether the recurrent discharges are preferntially generated in a select group of motoneurons with certain physiologic characteristics. Partial excitation of the nerve elicited the F wave with no consistent bias toward either the lower or higher threshold motor fibers. When the fast conducting axons were progressively blocked using a collision technique, the F wave continued to appear in the remaining slow conducting axons which escaped the collision. We conclude that the recurrent discharges occur in approximately 1% of antidromically activated motoneurons irrespective of their peripheral excitability or conduction characteristics.