Somatosensory evoked potential of the stretch-reflex (T-reflex)

Averaging of EEG recorded monopolarly from C3, contralateral to the activated limb, in the stretch reflex shows the presence of somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) with characteristic shape: four constant waves--P29, N84, P202 and N294, and four inconstant waves--N31, P74, P99 and N123. Comparison of this SSEP with the SSEP in children, evoked in the stretch reflex, shows shorter latencies of the waves in adults. On the basis of data from the different series of experiments, it is assumed that kinesthetic signalization plays a dominant role in the genesis of SSEP of the T-reflex. Studies have shown that SSEP of the T-reflex is succeptible to habituation upon long repetition of the stretch reflex.