The distance between the two electrode tips can greatly influence the parameters used for recording compound nerve action potentials. To investigate the optimal parameters for these recordings in the rat median nerve, Prof. Jie Lao and colleagues from HuaShan Hospital, Fudan University in China dissociated the nerve using different methods and compound nerve action potentials were orthodromically or antidromically recorded with different electrode spacings. Compound nerve action potentials could be consistently recorded using a method in which the middle part of the median nerve was intact, with both ends dissociated from the surrounding fascia and a ground wire inserted into the muscle close to the intact part. A distance of 5 mm between recording and stimulating electrodes and a distance of 10 mm between recording and stimulating sites were found to be optimal for compound nerve action potential recording in the rat median nerve. In addition, the orthodromic compound action potential, with a biphasic waveform that was more stable and displayed less interference (however also required a higher threshold and higher supramaximal stimulus), was found to be superior to the antidromic compound action potential.
Article: " The optimal distance between two electrode tips during recording of compound nerve action potentials in the rat median nerve " by Yongping Li1, 2, Jie Lao1, Xin Zhao1, Dong Tian1, Yi Zhu1, Xiaochun Wei2 (1 Department of Hand Surgery of HuaShan Hospital, Fudan University; Key Laboratory of Hand Reconstruction, Ministry of Healthy; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Peripheral Nerve and Microsurgery, Shanghai, China; 2 Department of Orthopedics, the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China)
Li YP, Lao J, Zhao X, Tian D, Zhu Y, Wei XC. The optimal distance between two electrode tips during recording of compound nerve action potentials in the rat median nerve. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(2):171-178.
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