Increased muscle action potentials by 5 Hz prolonged nerve stimulation in neurological and neuromuscular disorders--clinical usefulness for detecting underlying pathophysiology

Ontogenetic aspects of changes in muscular potentials at medial gastrocnemius muscles of dystrophic mice due to prolonged stimulation

Changes in muscular potentials at medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles induced by prolonged stimulation at 5 Hz were compared in dystrophic mice and their normal littermates at various ages. A rapid and notable reduction in the amplitude of muscular potentials at MG muscles was observed in normal mice. This was in contrast with a slight decrease or even an increase in the amplitude in dystrophic mice. The magnitude of reduction in normal mice increased with age, but in dystrophic mice where the change (a decrease or even an increase) was slight, it was similar in extent regardless of age. The slight change in dystrophic mice under the present regimen would be called a fatigue, resistant-like property, and this was discussed in conjunction with analogous properties observed in electrophysiological, histological and biochemical fields.