Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-vt8vv Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-08-15T04:39:41.193Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Characteristic Alterations in Responses to Imposed Wrist Displacements in Parkinsonian Rigidity and Dystonia Musculorum Deformans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

W.G. Tatton*
Affiliation:
Playfair Neuroscience Unit, University of Toronto, Jackman Neuroscience Laboratory, West Park Hospital and Division of Neurology, Toronto Western Hospital
W. Bedingham
Affiliation:
Playfair Neuroscience Unit, University of Toronto, Jackman Neuroscience Laboratory, West Park Hospital and Division of Neurology, Toronto Western Hospital
M.C. Verrier
Affiliation:
Playfair Neuroscience Unit, University of Toronto, Jackman Neuroscience Laboratory, West Park Hospital and Division of Neurology, Toronto Western Hospital
R.D.G. Blair
Affiliation:
Playfair Neuroscience Unit, University of Toronto, Jackman Neuroscience Laboratory, West Park Hospital and Division of Neurology, Toronto Western Hospital
*
Playfair Neuroscience Unit, Toronto Western Hospital, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 2S8
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The amplitude and temporal modulation of the segmented EMG activity in flexor carpi radialis, evoked by imposed angular wrist extension, was studied with respect to the level of pre-existing background activity in rigid parkinsonian (PK) and dystonia musculorum deformans (DMD) patients. The interdependence of the evoked M1 and M2-3 segments on pre-existing background EMG activity and initial velocity of imposed displacement was established previously for a normal population. Individual responses of 21 parkinsonian and 12 dystonic patients were compared to the established normal “response volume”. The augmented magnitude of the M2-3 segment in rigid PK patients, which correlates to the measure of rigidity, could not be accounted for by the low level of pre-existing EMG activity. Therefore, increased descending facilitation does not impinge directly on alpha motoneurons. Paradoxical excitation in the shortened muscle and resetting of tonic tremor of the stretched muscle by the imposed wrist extension are two other demonstrated abnormalities which may also contribute to PK rigidity. In contrast, DMD patients demonstrated normal amplitude modulation of the M1 and M2-3 segments, but exhibited a disturbance of normal temporal mechanisms that result in constant duration of the M1 and M2-3 responses with imposed force step loads.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1984

References

Bawa, P. and Tatton, WG. (1979) Motor unit responses in muscles stretched by imposed displacements of monkey wrist. Exp. Brain Res. 37: 417438.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bedingham, W. and Tatton, WG. (1984) Dependence of EMG responses evoked by imposed wrist displacements on pre-existing levels of activity in the stretched muscles. Can. J. Neurol. Sci. (this issue).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berardelli, A.Sabra, AF. and Hallet, M. (1983a) Physiological mechanisms of rigidity. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat. 46: 4553.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berardelli, A.Sabra, AF., Hallett, M., Berenberg, W. and Simon, SR. (1983b) Stretch reflex of triceps surae in patients with upper motor neurone syndromes. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat., 46: 5460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, D.Hagbarth, KE. and Wallin, BG. (1977) Reflex mechanisms in Parkinson rigidity. Scand. J. Rehab. Med. 9: 125–23.Google ScholarPubMed
Chan, CWY.Kearney, RE. and Melvill Jones, G. (1979) Tibialis anterior response to sudden ankle displacements in normal and Parkinsonian subjects. Brain Res., 173: 303314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheney, PD. and Fetz, EE. (1984) Primate cortical motoneuronal cells contribute to long latency stretch reflexes. J. Physiol. In Press.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delong, MR. and Georgopoulos, AP. (1981) Motor functions of the basal ganglia. In: Handbook of Physiology. Section I: The Nervous System. eds. Brookhart, J.M. and Mountcastle, V.B., Vol. 2, part 2, pp. 10171061.Google Scholar
Evarts, EV.Teravainen, H., Beuchert, DE. and Calne, DB. (1979) Pathophysiology of motor performance in Parkinson’s disease. In: Dopaminergic Ergot Derivatives and Motor Functions, eds. Fuxe, K. and Calne, D.B., London: Pergamon, pp. 4559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filion, M. (1979) Effects of interruption of the nigrostriatal pathway and of dopaminergic agents on the spontaneous activity of globus pallidus neurons in the awake monkey. Brain Res. 178: 425441.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, RG. and Tatton, WG. (1975) Motor responses to sudden limb displacements in primates with specific CNS lesions and in human patients with motor system disorders. Can. J. Neurol. Sci. 2:285293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, RG. and Tatton, WG. (1978) Long loop reflexes in humans: clinical application. In: Cerebral Motor Control in Man: Long Loop Mechanisms, ed. Desmedt, J.E., Prog. Clin. Neurophysiol. Karger, Basel, 4: 229245.Google Scholar
Lee, RG. and Tatton, WG. (1982) Long latency reflexes to imposed displacements of the human wrist: Dependence on duration of movement. Exp. Brain Res. 45: 207216.Google ScholarPubMed
Lenz, FA.Tatton, WG. and Tasker, RR. (1983) The effect of cortical lesions on the electromyographic response to joint displacement in the squirrel monkey forelimb. J. Neurosci. 3: 795805.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsden, DC.Harrison, MJG. and Bundey, S. (1976) Natural history of idiopathic torsion dystonia. Adv. Neurol. 14: 171187.Google ScholarPubMed
Mortimer, JA. and Webster, DD. (1978) Relationships between quantitative measures of rigidity and tremor and the electromyographic responses to load perturbations in unselected normal subjects and Parkinson patients. In: Progress in Clinical Neurophysiology, Vol. 4: Cerebral Motor Control in Man: Long Loop Mechanisms, ed. Desmedt, J.E., Karger, Basel, pp. 342360.Google Scholar
Mortimer, JA. and Webster, DD. (1979) Evidence for a quantitative association between EMG stretch responses and Parkinsonian rigidity. Brain Res., 162: 169173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noth, J.Friedmann, HH., Podoll, K. and Lange, HW. (1983) Absence of long latency reflexes to imposed finger displacements in patients with Huntington’s disease. Neurosci. Letters, 35: 97100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothwell, JC.Obeso, JA., Traub, MM. and Marsden, CD. (1983) The behaviour of long-latency stretch reflex in patients with Parkinson’s disease. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat. 46: 3544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sax, DS.Johnson, TL. and Cooper, IS. (1976) Reflex dynamics in extrapyramidal disorders. Dystonia. Adv. Neurol. 14: 285296.Google Scholar
Stein, RB. and Lee, RG. (1981) Tremor and clonus. In: Handbook of Physiology, Section I: The Nervous System, eds. Brookhart, J.M. and Mountcastle, V.B., Vol. 2, part 1, pp. 325343.Google Scholar
Struppler, F.Lehmann-Horn, F., Klein, W., Lucking, CH. and Deuschl, G. (1984) Effect of stereoencephalotomy on long-latency EMG responses and motor control of arm movements in Parkinson’s syndrome. Adv. Neurol. 40: 437445.Google ScholarPubMed
Tatton, WG. and Lee, RG. (1975) Evidence of abnormal long-loop reflexes in rigid Parkinsonian patients. Brain Res. 100: 671676.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tatton, WG.Bawa, P. and Bruce, IC. (1979) Altered motor cortical activity in extrapyramidal rigidity. Adv. Neurol. 24: 141160.Google Scholar
Tatton, WG.North, AGE., Bruce, IC. and Bedingham, W. (1983) Electromyographic and motor cortical responses to imposed displacements of the cat elbow: disparities and homologies with those of the primate wrist. J. Neurosci., 3: 18071817.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verrier, MC.Tatton, WG. and Blair, RDG. (1984) Characteristics of EMG responses to imposed limb displacement in patients with vascular hemiplegia. Can. J. Neurol. Sci. (this issue)Google Scholar
Wiesendanger, M. (1981) Organization of secondary motor areas of cerebral cortex. In: Handbook of Physiol. Section 1: The nervous system, eds. Brookhart, J.M. and Moutcastle, V.B. Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 11211148.Google Scholar
Wiesendanger and Miles (1982) Ascending pathway to low threshold muscle afferents to the cerebral cortex and its possible role in motor control. Physiol. Rev. 62: 12341270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar