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Updated: Apr 21, 2026
Non-invasive Assessment of Changes in Corticomotoneuronal Transmission in Humans
Published on: May 24, 2017
Task dependency of the long-latency facilitatory effect on the soleus H-reflex by cerebellar transcranial magnetic
Akiyoshi Matsugi1, Nobuhiko Mori, Shintaro Uehara
1aFaculty of Rehabilitation, Shijonawate Gakuen University bCenter for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology cRehabilitation Unit, Osaka University Hospital, Osaka dDepartment of Rehabilitation, Yamamoto Hospital, Wakayama eJapan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo fDepartment of Rehabilitation, Hannachuo Hospital, Nara, Japan.
Abstract:
We investigated whether cerebellar transcranial magnetic stimulation (C-TMS) facilitates the excitability of the ipsilateral soleus motoneuron pool in resting humans, and whether the facilitation is modulated by a task that promotes cerebellar activity. A test tibial nerve stimulus evoking the H-reflex from the right soleus muscle was delivered before or after conditioning C-TMS in prone individuals. The amplitude of the H-reflex was significantly increased at conditioning-test interstimulus intervals of 110, 120, and 130 ms. Furthermore, we revealed that this facilitation effect was inhibited while the individuals tapped their right index finger. These findings indicate that C-TMS facilitates spinal motoneuronal excitability with an ∼100 ms latency in resting humans, and that this cerebellar spinal facilitation is modulated by a task that might increase cerebellar activity. Cerebellar spinal facilitation could thus be useful for assessing the excitability of the cerebellum, or the cerebellar output to spinal motoneurons.
