title: Effect of the number of pins and inter-pin distance on somatosensory evoked magnetic fields following mechanical tactile stimulation.
abstract: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings were collected to investigate the effect of the number of mechanical pins and inter-pin distance on somatosensory evoked magnetic fields (SEFs) following mechanical stimulation (MS). We used a 306-ch whole-head MEG system. SEFs were elicited through tactile stimuli with 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-pins using healthy participants. Tactile stimuli were applied to the tip of the right index finger. SEF following electrical stimulation of the index finger was recorded in order to compare the activity in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) following MS. Prominent SEFs were recorded from the contralateral hemisphere approximately 54 ms (P50m) and 125 ms (P100m) after MS regardless of the number of pins. Equivalent current dipoles were located in the S1. The source activities for P50m and P100m significantly increased in tandem with the number of pins for MS. However, the increased ratios for the source activities according to the increase in the number of pins were significantly smaller than that induced by electrical stimulation, and when the number of the pins doubled from 1-pin to 2-pins, from 2-pins to 4-pins, and from 4-pins to 8-pins, S1 activities increased by only 130%. Additionally, source activities significantly increased when the inter-pin distance increased from 2.4 to 7.2 mm. The number of stimulated receptors was considered to have increased with an increase in the inter-pin distance as well as an increase in the number of pins. These findings clarified the effect of the number of pins and inter-pin distance for MS on SEFs.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Movement and Medical Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Kita-ku, Niigata, Niigata 950-3198, Japan. Electronic address: onishi@nuhw.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Onishi
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugawara
authors.forename: Koya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashiro
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hikari
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kirimoto
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamaki
authors.forename: Hiroatsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kameyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: ECD; ES; MEG; MRI; MS; Magnetoencephalography; Mechanical stimulation; S1; SEF; SSS; ST; Tactile stimulation; electrical stimulation; equivalent current dipole; magnetic resonance image; magnetoencephalography; mechanical stimulation; primary somatosensory cortex; sensory perception threshold; signal space separation; somatosensory evoked magnetic field