title: Optimizing measurement of the electrical anisotropy of muscle.
abstract: Skeletal muscle is electrically anisotropic, with applied high-frequency electrical current flowing more easily along than across muscle fibers. As an early step in harnessing this characteristic for clinical use, we studied approaches for maximizing the measured anisotropy by varying electrode size and applied current frequency in the tibialis anterior of 10 normal subjects. The results were compared to those from two patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Current was applied percutaneously, first parallel and then perpendicular to the major fiber direction of the muscle at frequencies ranging from 20 kHZ to 1 MHZ, using a fixed voltage-electrode length and varying the current-electrode length. The measured anisotropy was most pronounced using the longest length current electrodes and with a 125-kHZ applied frequency for the major outcome parameter phase. In addition, the two ALS patients showed very distinct anisotropic patterns. These results support the belief that, with the appropriate measurement technique, non-invasive assessment of electrical anisotropy of muscle may have useful clinical application.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Division of Neuromuscular Diseases, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Anne B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.forename: Lindsay P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Garmirian
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Seward B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Rutkove
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016880:Anisotropy; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000528:radiation effects