Chapter 7 Physiological considerations, hardware and software requirements for stimulating single motor nerve fibers

Publisher This chapter explores that motor neuron diseases, and many peripheral neuropathies are associated with degenerative and adaptive changes affecting motor neurons (MNs), motor nerve fibers (MNFs), and the motor unit (MU) as a whole. Degenerative changes takes the form of centripetal degeneration of the MNFs, possibly retraction of the dendritic tree associated with remodeling and losses of natural presynaptic contacts of the MNs, atrophy of the MNs and finally, in some instances, loss of some of the MNs. It discusses that motor unit number estimates (MUNEs) provide valuable information about the number of MNFs or MNs, and some information about the sizes of the MUs based on the sizes of their electrical signals but provide little information about the functional status of MUs. This chapter also reviews that the stimulation of single MNFs and one of the methods for estimating motor unit numbers, multiple point stimulation (MPS) provide excellent tools for assessing the functional status of MNs, but depend on the availability of suitable hardware and software; much of it is no longer available.