Motor responses to afferent stimulation in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.
OBJECTIVE
To document whether the mechanisms responsible for myoclonic jerks in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) are similar to those causing other forms of myoclonus.


METHODS
We studied somatosensory evoked potentials, the conditioning effect of cutaneous afferents on motor potentials evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and intracortical inhibition and facilitation in response to paired TMS in a group of nine patients with JME and 20 normal controls.


RESULTS
Intracortical inhibition was abnormal, whereas cortical somatosensory evoked potentials and TMS conditioned by cutaneous afferents were unaltered in JME patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Abnormal processing of cutaneous afferents would not appear to contribute to myoclonus in JME.
Manganotti
Paolo
P
Department of Neurological Sciences and Vision, Section of Neurological Rehabilitation Clinical Neurology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Tamburin
Stefano
S
Bongiovanni
Luigi Giuseppe
LG
Zanette
Giampietro
G
Fiaschi
Antonio
A
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020190:Myoclonic Epilepsy, Juvenile / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*