Postexercise depression of motor evoked potentials: a measure of central nervous system fatigue |
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Authors: | Joaquim P. Brasil-Neto Alvaro Pascual-Leone Josep Valls-Solé Angel Cammarota Leonardo G. Cohen Mark Hallett |
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Affiliation: | (1) Human Cortical Physiology Unit, Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Building 10, Room 5N226, 20892 Bethesda, MD, USA |
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Abstract: | Fatigue of voluntary muscular effort is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Fatigue of peripheral nervous system components, including the contractile apparatus and the neuromuscular junction, has been well studied. Central nervous system components also fatigue, but studies have lagged for want of objective methods. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a relatively new technique that can be used to assess central nervous system excitability from the motor cortex to the alpha-motoneuron. In six normal volunteers, including four of the investigators, the amplitudes of motor evoked potentials elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation were transiently decreased after exercise, indicating fatigue of motor pathways in the central nervous system. The decrease in amplitude was associated with a feeling of fatigue. The mechanism of this phenomenon is apparently decreased efficiency in the generation of the motor command in the motor cortex. |
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Keywords: | Transcranial magnetic stimulation Motor evoked potentials Exercise Fatigue Human |
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