Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25566025›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2014

Asynchronous recruitment of low-threshold motor units during repetitive, low-current stimulation of the human tibial nerve.

Jesse C Dean, Joanna M Clair-Auger, Olle Lagerquist, David F Collins

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Reprogramming Sacral Neuromodulation for Sub-Optimal Outcomes: Evidence and Recommendations for Clinical Practice.Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society · 2021
    Pooled it
  4. Impact of stimulation frequency on neuromuscular fatigue.European journal of applied physiology · 2019
    Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Non-invasive imaging of single human motor units.Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Investigation of different stimulation patterns with doublet pulses to reduce muscle fatigue.Journal of rehabilitation and assistive technologies engineering
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Jesse C DeanDivision of Physical Therapy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston South Carolina, USA.
Joanna M Clair-AugerFaculty of Physical Education and Recreation and Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Olle LagerquistNorthern Alberta Institute of Technology Edmonton, AB, Canada.
David F CollinsFaculty of Physical Education and Recreation and Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, Canada.
University of Alberta · CAMedical University of South Carolina · USNorthern Alberta Institute of Technology · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Motoneurons receive a barrage of inputs from descending and reflex pathways. Much of our understanding about how these inputs are transformed into motor output in humans has come from recordings of single motor units during voluntary contractions. This approach, however, is limited because the input is ill-defined. Herein, we quantify the discharge of soleus motor units in response to well-defined trains of afferent input delivered at physiologically-relevant frequencies. Constant frequency stimulation of the tibial nerve (10-100 Hz for 30 s), below threshold for eliciting M-waves or H-reflexes with a single pulse, recruited motor units in 7/9 subjects. All 25 motor units recruited during stimulation were also recruited during weak (<10% MVC) voluntary contractions. Higher frequencies recruited more units (n = 3/25 at 10 Hz; n = 25/25 at 100 Hz) at shorter latencies (19.4 ± 9.4 s at 10 Hz; 4.1 ± 4.0 s at 100 Hz) than lower frequencies. When a second unit was recruited, the discharge of the already active unit did not change, suggesting that recruitment was not due to increased synaptic drive. After recruitment, mean discharge rate during stimulation at 20 Hz (7.8 Hz) was lower than during 30 Hz (8.6 Hz) and 40 Hz (8.4 Hz) stimulation. Discharge was largely asynchronous from the stimulus pulses with "time-locked" discharge occurring at an H-reflex latency with only a 24% probability. Motor units continued to discharge after cessation of the stimulation in 89% of trials, although at a lower rate (5.8 Hz) than during the stimulation (7.9 Hz). This work supports the idea that the afferent volley evoked by repetitive stimulation recruits motor units through the integration of synaptic drive and intrinsic properties of motoneurons, resulting in "physiological" recruitment which adheres to Henneman's size principle and results in relatively low discharge rates and asynchronous firing.

Indexed as

electrical stimulationmotoneuronmotor unitreflexsensorimotor integration

Identifiers

PMID25566025
PMCPMC4267276
OpenAlexW2137150801

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.