Abstract
Motor unit number estimation (MUNE) techniques estimate the number of motor units innervating a single muscle or a group of muscles. As such, MUNE techniques are commonly used to quantify the loss of motor units in disease. MUNE requires obtaining and analysing neurophysiological recordings of compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) evoked by stimulation of a peripheral nerve. Here, we describe a neurophysiological method that allows for the generation of stimulus–response curves that are achieved through increasing incremental electrical stimulation of the right sciatic nerve of mice and recording of the CMAP in the right gastrocnemius muscle. Performing this neurophysiological technique for subsequent MUNE analysis has vast implications for determining motor unit numbers where motor unit loss is thought to occur.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Gilchrist JM, Sachs GM (2004) Electrodiagnostic studies in the management and prognosis of neuromuscular disorders. Muscle Nerve 29:165–190
Bromberg MB, Brownell AA (2008) Motor unit number estimation in the assessment of performance and function in motor neuron disease. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am 19:509–532, ix
Daube JR (2006) Motor unit number estimates—from A to Z. J Neurol Sci 242:23–35
McComas AJ, Fawcett PR, Campbell MJ, Sica RE (1971) Electrophysiological estimation of the number of motor units within a human muscle. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 34:121–131
Arasaki K, Tamaki M, Hosoya Y, Kudo N (1997) Validity of electromyograms and tension as a means of motor unit number estimation. Muscle Nerve 20:552–560
Ridall PG, Pettitt AN, Henderson RD, McCombe PA (2006) Motor unit number estimation—a Bayesian approach. Biometrics 62:1235–1250
Rowland LP, Schneider LA (2001) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. N Engl J Med 344:1688–1700
Mitchell JD, Borasio GD (2007) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Lancet 369:2031–2041
Shefner JM, Cudkowicz ME, Brown RH Jr (2002) Comparison of incremental with multipoint MUNE methods in transgenic ALS mice. Muscle Nerve 25:39–42
Hegedus J, Jones KE, Gordon T (2009) Development and use of the incremental twitch subtraction MUNE method in mice. Suppl Clin Neurophysiol 60:209–217
Hegedus J, Putman CT, Gordon T (2007) Time course of preferential motor unit loss in the SOD1 G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neurobiol Dis 28:154–164
Henderson RD, Ridall GR, Pettitt AN, McCombe PA, Daube JR (2006) The stimulus–response curve and motor unit variability in normal subjects and subjects with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Muscle Nerve 34:34–43
Nandedkar SD, Barkhaus PE, Stalberg EV (2010) Motor unit number index (MUNIX): principle, method, and findings in healthy subjects and in patients with motor neuron disease. Muscle Nerve 42:798–807
van Dijk JP, Schelhaas HJ, Van Schaik IN, Janssen HM, Stegeman DF, Zwarts MJ (2010) Monitoring disease progression using high-density motor unit number estimation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Muscle Nerve 42:239–244
Kadrie HA, Yates SK, Milner-Brown HS, Brown WF (1976) Multiple point electrical stimulation of ulnar and median nerves. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 39:973–985
Lomen-Hoerth C, Olney RK (2001) Effect of recording window and stimulation variables on the statistical technique of motor unit number estimation. Muscle Nerve 24:1659–1664
Steyn FJ, Huang L, Ngo ST, Leong JW, Tan HY, Xie TY, Parlow AF, Veldhuis JD, Waters MJ, Chen C (2011) Development of a method for the determination of pulsatile growth hormone secretion in mice. Endocrinol 152: 3165–3171
Xu J, Bekaert AJ, Dupont J, Rouve S, Annesi-Maesano I, De Magalhaes Filho CD, Kappeler L, Holzenberger M (2011) Exploring endocrine GH pattern in mice using rank plot analysis and random blood samples. J Endocrinol 208:119–129
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Ngo, S.T., Bellingham, M.C. (2013). Neurophysiological Recording of the Compound Muscle Action Potential for Motor Unit Number Estimation in Mice. In: Pilowsky, P., Farnham, M., Fong, A. (eds) Stimulation and Inhibition of Neurons. Neuromethods, vol 78. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-233-9_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-233-9_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-232-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-233-9
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols