Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40113256›Full record

ArticleeNeuro2025

Paired Stimulation of Different Digits for 30 min Does Not Produce Long-Term Plastic Changes in the Human Cutaneomuscular Reflex.

Maria Germann, Eldesta Nabila, Stuart N Baker

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eNeuro, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

3 authors.

Maria GermannFaculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2747-9555
Eldesta NabilaFaculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom.
Stuart N BakerFaculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom stuart.baker@ncl.ac.uk.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8118-4048

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cutaneomuscular reflexes (CMRs) can be recorded in the hand muscle of human subjects after stimulation of a digital nerve. We hypothesized that repeated synchronous stimulation of nerves from two digits may lead to long-term plastic changes in CMR, by the mechanisms of spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). To test this idea, we conducted experiments in 27 healthy human volunteers. After baseline measurement of CMR, one of four 30-min-long stimulation conditions were tested; the CMR was then remeasured. The four conditions were simultaneous index finger and thumb stimulation; asynchronous index finger and thumb stimulation; thumb 5 ms before index finger stimulation; and thumb-only stimulation. Neither the early (E1) nor late excitatory (E2) components of the CMR showed consistent changes after any stimulation condition. The inhibitory (I1) component was slightly reduced in all cases. To understand why paired stimulation did not produce long-term changes, we conducted a further experiment. In this, we measured the CMR in response to simultaneous stimulation of index finger and thumb, compared with a prediction expected if the responses summed linearly. This revealed sublinear summation, possibly indicating partial response saturation after stimulation of only one digit. We argue such a pattern prevents paired stimuli from generating especially reliable and well-timed outputs relative to synaptic inputs in downstream neurons, which is required to produce plasticity by STDP.

Indexed as

FingersMuscle, SkeletalNeuronal PlasticityReflexAdultElectric StimulationElectromyographyFemaleHumansMaleThumbTime FactorsYoung Adultcutaneomuscular reflexspike-timing–dependent plasticity

Identifiers

PMID40113256
PMCPMC11927050

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Registered trials

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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.