[The cervical somatosensory evoked potential and its relation to F-wave activity]

In 6 healthy volunteers aged 18-25 years cervical somatosensory evoked potentials (CEPs) were recorded following stimulation of the right median nerve at the wrist. At the same time the antidromically elicited individual F-waves evoked by any single impulse were recorded from the abductor pollicis brevis muscle. By means of selective averaging of the neck responses it could be shown that there was a close relationship between an F-wave-activity of 120-150 microV/stimulus or more during the trial and the appearance or the enhancement of a negative peak occurring 0.5-1.4 ms after the main CEP component N13. An F-wave-activity of more than 224 microV/stimulus regularly resulted in a total change of the CEP configuration.