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Motor units as tools to evaluate profile of human Renshaw inhibition

Ozyurt, MG; Piotrkiewicz, M; Topkara, B; Weisskircher, H-W; Turker, KS; (2019) Motor units as tools to evaluate profile of human Renshaw inhibition. The Journal of Physiology , 597 (8) pp. 2185-2199. 10.1113/JP277129. Green open access

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Abstract

Although Renshaw inhibition (RI) has been extensively studied for decades, its precise role in motor control is yet to be discovered. One of the main handicaps is a lack of reliable methods for studying RI in conscious human subjects. We stimulated the lowest electrical threshold motor axons (thickest axons) in the tibial nerve and analysed the stimulus‐correlated changes in discharge of voluntarily recruited low‐threshold single motor units (SMUs) from the soleus muscle. In total, 54 distinct SMUs from 12 subjects were analysed. Stimuli that generated only the direct motor response (M‐only) on surface electromyography induced an inhibitory response in the low‐threshold SMUs. Because the properties of RI had to be estimated indirectly using the background discharge rate of SMUs, its profile varied with the discharge rate of the SMU. The duration of RI was found to be inversely proportional to the discharge rate of SMUs. Using this important finding, we have developed a method of extrapolation for estimating RI as it develops on motoneurons in the spinal cord. The frequency methods indicated that the duration of RI was between 30 and 40 ms depending on the background firing rate of the units, and the extrapolation indicated that RI on silent motoneurons was ∼55 ms. The present study establishes a novel methodology for studying RI in human subjects and hence may serve as a tool for improving our understanding of the involvement of RI in human motor control.

Type: Article
Title: Motor units as tools to evaluate profile of human Renshaw inhibition
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1113/JP277129
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1113/JP277129
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Renshaw circuitry, synaptic potentials, direct motor response, human neuronal networks, single motor units.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Department of Neuromuscular Diseases
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10083646
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