What can Microneurography Tell the Clinician About Nerve Regeneration or Disease?

Abstract

The method of recording sensory nerve action potentials through the human skin was introduced by Dawson [3], and clinical use was soon made by Gilliatt and Sears [4]. The recording conditions were later improved by Buchthal and Rosenfalk [2], who inserted needle electrodes through the skin and used averaging techniques to improve the signal to noise ratio. Whether surface or near-nerve recording is used, the recorded signal is a compound action potential which cannot distinguish between its elementary components. Single unit analysis becomes mandatory to identify the latter. This type of analysis became possible with the introduction of the technique of percutaneous microneurography (MNG) [11]. For routine clinical application, recording the compound action potential (CAP) remains the method of choice, because it is less time consuming and provides basic information on nerve conduction in health and disease. Single unit analysis, used as a basic research tool, does, however, provide the detailed information that allows interpretation of the CAP and becomes crucial in the study of impulse generation and transmission.