[Disturbance in the function of the spinal centers in diffuse toxic goiter in children (electromyographic study)]

Peculiarities of the reflex and motor responses of the soleus muscle were studied in stimulation of the tibial nerve by stimuli of gradually increasing intensity, and also in double stimulation and against the background of contraction of the antagonistic muscles in children with diffuse goiter and in healthy individuals. In sick children an increase and a fall in the H-response amplitude with increase of the stimulation intensity occurred more rapidly than in healthy ones. A rapid restoration of the reflex response at the interval of 500 msec and greater was noted in studying the cycle of restoration of excitation of the motor cells of the anterior horn in sick children. Against the background of contraction of the antagonistic muscles the reciprocal inhibition of the reflex response of the muscle was weaker than in the healthy individuals. The data obtained led to a supposition that one of the causes of motor disturbances in case of an excess of the thyroid hormones in the organism could be a disturbance of the processes of the pre- and postsynaptic inhibition at the spinal level.