Microneurography
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Human Microneurography or simply microneurography involves the insertion of metal microelectrodes into nerve fascicles.
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[edit] Microneurography Basics
[edit] Applications
Microneurography is used to study and understand the neurophysiology of nerve fibers (both afferent and efferent) in the face and peripheral nervous system. Studies done in humans carry the advantage of communication, and have thus considerably helped in our understanding of receptive fields of mechanoreceptors.
Since recording is done in nerve fasicles the neuronal activity is directly related to the sensory afferents or motor efferents. That is to say, the firing rate of sensory afferents are directly from stimulation of receptors, whether in muscles, tendons, or skin. The same is true for efferent signals to skeletal muscle or smooth muscle. This is different than recording in the spinal cord or cortex where signals can be processed.
[edit] Health Effects
Surprisingly microneurography appears to have litte permanent detrimental affects to patients. Animal studies have shown that axonal damage does occur, but this axonal damage in animals does not translate into perceived damage or loss of function in human experiments. Symptoms such as abnormal sensations, deep muscle aches, muscle weakness, and loss of sensations are observed following the study, but generally not during the study. This observation has suggested that edema and not axonal damage is the cause of these symptoms. 95% of symptoms are resolved within 14 days.
[edit] References
S.C. Gandevia, J.P. Hales (1997). "The methodology and scope of human microneurography". Journal of Neuroscience Methods 74: 123-136.
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