Interactions between cutaneous and muscle afferent projections to cerebral cortex in man

In order to demonstrate interactions between cutaneous and muscle afferent volleys in the ascending somatosensory pathways, different nerves of the lower limb were stimulated together in a conditioning-test paradigm, the changes in the earliest component of the cerebral potential evoked by the test stimulus being taken to indicate such an interaction. It was first confirmed that the cerebral potential evoked by stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve at the ankle is derived from muscle afferents in the mixed nerve and has shorter latencies than the cerebral potential evoked by purely cutaneous volleys in the sural nerve (see Burke et al. 1981). Complete suppression of the cerebral potential evoked by stimulation of muscle or cutaneous afferents was produced by conditioning volleys in a different nerve or in a different fascicle of the same nerve. The major factors determining the degree of suppression were found to be the relative sizes of the conditioning and test volleys and their timing, rather than whether the volleys were of cutaneous or muscular origin. It is concluded that the transmission of cutaneous or muscle afferent volleys to cortex can be profoundly altered in normal subjects by conditioning activity. The possibility that normal background afferent activity can similarly modify afferent transmission has implications for diagnostic studies, particularly when they are performed under non-standard conditions, such as in the operating theatre or intensive care unit. It is also concluded that, although a subject may perceive cutaneous paraesthesiae when the posterior tibial nerve is stimulated at the ankle, there may be no cutaneous component to the evoked cerebral potential.