• Petra Schwingenschuh, Tabish A Saifee, Petra Katschnig-Winter, Mary M Reilly, Michael P Lunn, Hadi Manji, Maria Aguirregomozcorta, Reinhold Schmidt, Kailash P Bhatia, John C Rothwell, and Mark J Edwards.
• Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK.
• Neurology. 2013 May 14; 80 (20): 1867-73.

ObjectivesThis study aims to investigate if patients with inflammatory neuropathies and tremor have evidence of dysfunction in the cerebellum and interactions in sensorimotor cortex compared to nontremulous patients and healthy controls.MethodsA prospective data collection study investigating patients with inflammatory neuropathy and tremor, patients with inflammatory neuropathy without tremor, and healthy controls on a test of cerebellar associative learning (eyeblink classical conditioning), a test of sensorimotor integration (short afferent inhibition), and a test of associative plasticity (paired associative stimulation). We also recorded tremor in the arms using accelerometry and surface EMG.ResultsWe found impaired responses to eyeblink classical conditioning and paired associative stimulation in patients with neuropathy and tremor compared with neuropathy patients without tremor and healthy controls. Short afferent inhibition was normal in all groups.ConclusionsOur data strongly suggest impairment of cerebellar function is linked to the production of tremor in patients with inflammatory neuropathy.

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