• Tomoko Kitago, Riccardo Mazzocchio, Gianpiero Liuzzi, and Leonardo G Cohen.
• Human Cortical Physiology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Building 10, Room 5N226, 10 Center Drive MSC 1430, Bethesda, MD 20892-1428, USA.
• Clin Neurophysiol. 2004 Apr 1; 115 (4): 858-61.

ObjectiveThis study investigated a strategy to elicit reversible facilitation of the soleus monosynaptic H-reflex in humans using a modified tetanic stimulation technique.MethodsInterventional tetanic stimulation (ITS) was applied to the tibial nerve in the popliteal fossa, and soleus H-reflexes were recorded before and after stimulation in 15 healthy volunteers.ResultsITS resulted in significantly increased soleus H-reflex amplitudes that outlasted the stimulation period by approximately 16 min. The effect of ITS on soleus motor evoked potentials to transcranial magnetic stimulation and on somatosensory evoked potentials to tibial nerve stimulation was also investigated; no significant changes were found.ConclusionsITS produced a reversible increase in H-reflexes in the absence of changes in motor evoked potential or somatosensory evoked potential that outlasted the intervention period for up to 16 min.SignificanceThis technique may be used in future studies to investigate whether the induced increased H-reflex excitability influences locomotion.

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