Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Action Potential01:14

Action Potential

12.3K
Neurons communicate by firing action potentials—the electrochemical signal that is propagated along the axon. The signal results in the release of neurotransmitters at axon terminals, thereby transmitting information to the nervous system. An action potential is a specific "all-or-none" change in membrane potential that results in a rapid spike in voltage.
Membrane potential in neurons
Neurons typically have a resting membrane potential of about -70 millivolts (mV). When they receive...
12.3K
Motor Unit Stimulation01:20

Motor Unit Stimulation

4.8K
When the neuron of a motor unit fires an action potential, it triggers a series of events, leading to a twitch contraction in the muscle fibers. The process of excitation-contraction coupling is crucial in relaying the action potential to the muscle fibers.
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...
4.8K
Motor Units01:13

Motor Units

10.0K
The motor unit is a fundamental component of the neuromuscular system and plays a crucial role in coordinating muscle contractions. It consists of a somatic motor neuron, which connects and controls multiple skeletal muscle fibers, forming a single functional segment. The axon of the motor neuron branches out and establishes synaptic connections known as neuromuscular junctions with individual muscle fibers within the motor unit.
Motor units come in different sizes, with smaller units...
10.0K
Motor Units00:46

Motor Units

63.1K
A motor unit consists of two main components: a single efferent motor neuron (i.e., a neuron that carries impulses away from the central nervous system) and all of the muscle fibers it innervates. The motor neuron may innervate multiple muscle fibers, which are single cells, but only one motor neuron innervates a single muscle fiber.
63.1K
Action Potentials01:41

Action Potentials

150.4K
Overview
150.4K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Understanding the Effects of Conductive Polymer Electrode Coating on Recorded Neural Signals.

Advanced healthcare materials·2026
Same author

Calcium-based synaptic and structural plasticity link pathological activity to synaptic reorganization in Parkinson's disease.

Science advances·2025
Same author

Language-Independent Acoustic Biomarkers for Quantifying Speech Impairment in Huntington's Disease.

American journal of speech-language pathology·2024
Same author

Multivariable closed-loop control of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease.

Journal of neural engineering·2023
Same author

Micromotion Derived Fluid Shear Stress Mediates Peri-Electrode Gliosis through Mechanosensitive Ion Channels.

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)·2023
Same author

Cortico-muscular coherence in primary lateral sclerosis reveals abnormal cortical engagement during motor function beyond primary motor areas.

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)·2023

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 4, 2026

Functional Isolation of Single Motor Units of Rat Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle
06:54

Functional Isolation of Single Motor Units of Rat Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle

Published on: December 26, 2020

6.0K

Multi-dimensional characterization and tracking of motor unit action potentials.

Lara McManus1, Jérémy Liegey2, Madeleine Lowery2

  • 1Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

Journal of Neural Engineering
|April 2, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

A new multi-dimensional (MD) method accurately tracks motor unit action potentials (MUAPs) from high-density surface electromyography (HDsEMG) signals. This approach improves upon traditional methods, offering better identification of MUAPs for enhanced motor unit analysis.

Keywords:
first dorsal interosseoushigh-density surface EMGmotor unit action potentialmotor unit decompositionmotor unit trackingmulti-dimensional

More Related Videos

Multifunctional Setup for Studying Human Motor Control Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Electromyography, Motion Capture, and Virtual Reality
08:09

Multifunctional Setup for Studying Human Motor Control Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Electromyography, Motion Capture, and Virtual Reality

Published on: September 3, 2015

11.6K
Electrophysiological Motor Unit Number Estimation MUNE Measuring Compound Muscle Action Potential CMAP in Mouse Hindlimb Muscles
09:07

Electrophysiological Motor Unit Number Estimation MUNE Measuring Compound Muscle Action Potential CMAP in Mouse Hindlimb Muscles

Published on: September 25, 2015

22.5K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 4, 2026

Functional Isolation of Single Motor Units of Rat Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle
06:54

Functional Isolation of Single Motor Units of Rat Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle

Published on: December 26, 2020

6.0K
Multifunctional Setup for Studying Human Motor Control Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Electromyography, Motion Capture, and Virtual Reality
08:09

Multifunctional Setup for Studying Human Motor Control Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Electromyography, Motion Capture, and Virtual Reality

Published on: September 3, 2015

11.6K
Electrophysiological Motor Unit Number Estimation MUNE Measuring Compound Muscle Action Potential CMAP in Mouse Hindlimb Muscles
09:07

Electrophysiological Motor Unit Number Estimation MUNE Measuring Compound Muscle Action Potential CMAP in Mouse Hindlimb Muscles

Published on: September 25, 2015

22.5K

Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Neuroscience
  • Signal Processing

Background:

  • High-density surface electromyography (HDsEMG) enables motor unit decomposition.
  • Reliable tracking of motor unit action potentials (MUAPs) is crucial for analyzing motor unit behavior.
  • Similar MUAP shapes pose challenges for accurate motor unit tracking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To introduce a novel multi-dimensional (MD) method for matching MUAP waveforms.
  • To enhance the accuracy of identifying and tracking MUAPs from the same motor unit.
  • To compare the MD method's performance against traditional cross-correlation (CC) techniques.

Main Methods:

  • Representing MUAPs as trajectories in a high-dimensional space based on HDsEMG channels.
  • Utilizing multi-dimensional features to compare MUAP waveform similarity.
  • Employing feature reduction and clustering to classify matching MUAP pairs.
  • Assessing the MD method using simulated and experimental datasets against CC.

Main Results:

  • The MD method achieved significantly higher F1 scores and lower error rates (p <0.001).
  • MD method correctly identified 89.8% of MUAP pairs, outperforming CC (73.3%).
  • The MD method demonstrated a 49.6% reduction in false positive rates compared to CC.

Conclusions:

  • Multi-dimensional representations of MUAP trajectories improve motor unit identification accuracy.
  • The MD method offers superior performance for tracking MUAPs compared to correlation-based approaches.
  • This advancement enhances the analysis of motor unit recruitment and firing properties.