Electrical activity induced by ischemia in the skeletal muscle of patients with spasmophilia

The incidence of spontaneous electrical activity during ischemia was studied in normal and spasmophilic subjects with a Bronk electrode inserted in the first dorsal interosseous muscle. Subjects were of both sexes, aged 16 to 65 years. The diagnosis of spasmophilia was established electromyographically by a variant of the Alajouanine test. Ischemia induced in many cases an electrical activity consisting of discharge potentials that have the amplitude, duration and morphology of motor unit potentials. The number of discharging motor units varied, sometimes leading to an electrical Trousseau associated to a carpal spasm. The discharge of individual motor units was irregular and practically uninfluenced by passive manipulations on the muscle or voluntary contraction. The activity started usually 30 sec to 1 min after the onset of ischemia, reached a maximal intensity (as to the number of motor units and frequency of discharge) in about 1 min and declined gradually in the following minutes. This activity was encountered in 55.06% of 770 cases of spasmophilia and only in 11.66% of 283 normal subjects, with a tendency to more intense discharge in spasmophilia. Its incidence in the spasmophilic group was closely related to the intensity of spontaneous repetitive discharges appearing electromyographically after the activation test, reaching 78.63% in most severe cases. The behaviour was interpreted as indicating a higher susceptibility in spasmophilia of axons to depolarization induced by hypoxia. This higher susceptibility appears as an important component of the excitability alterations leading to the complex neuromuscular disorders occurring in spasmophilia.