Unexplained peripheral nervous conduction velocity variations in young military males

Peripheral nervous conduction velocity has widely been used in neurology and traumatology. Recently, it has been added to diagnostic tests of several metabolic disorders since the myelin sheath is highly sensitive to internal environment variations. The catecholamines liberation induced by stress (physical and/or psychological) produces an important internal environment alteration characterized by an anaerobic metabolism increase causing acid catabolites generation. This paper describes an unexpected neurophysiological finding observed in the course of a wide aeronautical medicine research project. A homogeneous group (similar age, sex, diet, physical training and life-style) of young healthy military males (belonging to the Air Force Academy) (n = 60) showed statistically significant differences on peripheral nervous conduction velocity (both motor and sensory ways) among them and in front of reference values. Authors can not explain that observation decisively. They suggest both the different complexity of academic curriculum and the different oxygen consumption as possible factors that could provoke mentioned conduction velocity variations.