title: Short-term effect of electrical nerve stimulation on spinal reciprocal inhibition during robot-assisted passive stepping in humans.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of electrical stimulation to the common peroneal nerve (CPN) on the spinal reflex and reciprocal inhibition (RI) during robot-assisted passive ground stepping (PGS) in healthy subjects. Five interventions were applied for 30 min in healthy subjects: PGS alone; strong CPN stimulation [50% of the maximal tibialis anterior (TA) M-wave, functional electrical stimulation (FES)] alone; weak CPN stimulation [just above the MT for the TA muscle, therapeutic electrical stimulation (TES)] alone; PGS with FES; and PGS with TES. FES and TES were applied intermittently to the CPN at 25 Hz. The soleus (Sol) H-reflex and RI, which was assessed by conditioning the Sol H-reflex with CPN stimulation, were investigated before (baseline), and 5, 15 and 30 min after each intervention. The amplitudes of the Sol H-reflex were not significantly different after each intervention as compared with the baseline values. The amounts of RI were significantly decreased 5 min after PGS with FES as compared with the baseline values, whereas they were significantly increased 5 and 15 min after PGS with TES. The other interventions did not affect the amount of RI. These results suggest that interventions that combined PGS with CPN stimulation changed the spinal RI in an intensity-dependent manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Obata
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Waseda, Japan.|Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Motor Dysfunction, Research Institute of the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Taku
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Masugi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Motor Dysfunction, Research Institute of the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Noritaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawashima
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Kimitaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000379:methods; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006181:H-Reflex; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D010543:Peroneal Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: passive stepping; peripheral nerve stimulation; plasticity; spinal cord; spinal reciprocal inhibition