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Medium-latency reflex response of soleus elicited by peroneal nerve stimulation

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Abstract

A medium-latency response (MLR) has been recorded from soleus during stance and walking, and has been attributed to stretch-evoked volleys in group II afferents. The present paper describes a MLR in soleus evoked by stimulating the deep peroneal nerve, documents its characteristics and addresses its likely origin. The MLR of soleus was recorded in healthy subjects and hemiplegic patients, following electrical stimulation of the deep peroneal nerve at the fibula at rest, during voluntary dorsiflexion, during plantar flexion, during external restraint to the ankle dorsiflexion movement, during limb cooling, during limb ischaemia and 1 h after the ingestion of tizanidine. The dorsiflexion movement of the foot was measured using an accelerometer. During cooling, ischaemia and after tizanidine, changes in the MLR were compared with changes in the soleus H reflex, Achilles tendon reflex and, during cooling, F waves of abductor hallucis. The MLR was facilitated by voluntary dorsiflexion, was suppressed during plantar flexion, disappeared when ankle movement was prevented, and was enhanced in patients with spastic hemiplegia. Cooling delayed the MLR significantly more than the Achilles tendon reflex and the abductor hallucis F wave. During ischaemia the response was significantly less affected than the Achilles tendon reflex and the soleus H reflex. Tizanidine suppressed the MLR, but not the soleus H and tendon reflexes. The latencies and the experiments using cooling, ischaemia and tizanidine implicate soleus group II afferents in the genesis of this response.

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Acknowledgments

Grant support from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and partly Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Ege University Medical School Hospital, İzmir, Turkey

    Hilmi Uysal, Lars-Erik Larsson, Hüsnü Efendi, David Burke & Cumhur Ertekin

  2. B Block Neurology Department, Akdeniz University Hospital, Antalya, Turkey

    Hilmi Uysal

  3. Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Linköping, Linköping, Sweden

    Lars-Erik Larsson

  4. Neurology Department, Kocaeli University Hospital, İzmit, Turkey

    Hüsnü Efendi

  5. Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    David Burke

  6. Department of Neurology, Medical School Hospital, Ege University, Bornova, İzmir, Turkey

    Cumhur Ertekin

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  1. Hilmi Uysal
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  2. Lars-Erik Larsson
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  3. Hüsnü Efendi
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  4. David Burke
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  5. Cumhur Ertekin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hilmi Uysal.

Additional information

L.-E. Larsson: Deceased.

C. Ertekin: Retired.

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Uysal, H., Larsson, LE., Efendi, H. et al. Medium-latency reflex response of soleus elicited by peroneal nerve stimulation. Exp Brain Res 193, 275–286 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-008-1621-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-008-1621-4

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