title: Prolonged silent periods produced by magnetic cortical stimulation in patients with cerebellar ataxia.
abstract: Magnetic cortical stimulation can produce silent periods (SP) following excitatory motor responses. The SP in eight patients with cerebellar ataxia was examined. The onset latency of the SP in hand muscles after magnetic cortical stimulation was not different from that in control subjects. The duration of the SP was longer than that in control subjects, but the difference was not significant statistically. The end latency of the SP in patients with cerebellar ataxia was more prolonged than that in control subjects. Therefore, the inhibitory function may be enhanced in patients with cerebellar ataxia.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimoda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakuma
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002524:Cerebellar Ataxia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004576:Electromyography; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology