Summary
Cervical and cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) to median nerve stimulation were recorded in 65 normal subjects. Absolute peak latencies and amplitudes of cervical components N9, P10, N11, N13, P17, and cortical components P16, N20, P25, and N35 were measured. By means of partial correlations the interdependency of SEP-features could be verified in addition to the well-known dependence on arm length and age. In certain respects our results replicate other studies finding significant correlations between age and latency of early SEP-components as well as inverse relations between age and cervical amplitudes. Further analysis disclosed high intercorrelations between the latencies and between the amplitudes of the cervical and cortical components also revealing a certain exceptional position of the positive wave P17. In contrast to an inverse relation of amplitude and latency of the cervical components there were positive correlations between the respective features in the cortical evoked response. The findings are discussed with regard to the current knowledge about the origins of the SEP-components.
Zusammenfassung
Bei 65 Normalpersonen wurden nach Stimulation des N. medianus cervicale und corticale somatosensorisch evozierte Potentiale (SEP) abgeleitet und die Absolutwerte der Gipfellatenzen und Amplituden der cervicalen Komponenten N9, P10, N11, N13 und P17 sowie der corticalen Komponenten P16, N20, P25 und N35 ausgemessen.
Mit Hilfe von Partialkorrelationen ließen sich außer bekannten Einflüssen von Armlänge und Alter auf die SEP-Merkmale auch Abhängigkeiten dieser Merkmale untereinander aufdecken. In gewisser Hinsicht bestätigen unsere Resultate die Ergebnisse anderer Untersuchungen, wonach signifikante Korrelationen zwischen Alter und Latenzen früher SEP-Komponenten und inverse Beziehungen zwischen Alter und cervicalen Amplituden bestehen.
Darüber hinaus ergaben sich hohe Interkorrelationen für die Latenzen und für die Amplituden der cervicalen und corticalen Komponenten; eine gewisse Sonderstellung nahm die positive Welle P17 ein. Im Gegensatz zu einer inversen Beziehung zwischen Amplituden und Latenzen bei den cervicalen Komponenten zeigte sich bei den cortical evozierten Potentialen eine positive Korrelation zwischen den entsprechenden Merkmalen. Die Befunde werden im Hinblick auf die derzeitige Kenntnis über die Entstehung der SEP-Komponenten diskutiert.
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Strenge, H., Gundel, A. Multivariate analysis of somatosensory evoked potential parameters in normal adults. Arch Psychiatr Nervenkr 233, 499–508 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00342789
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00342789