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Central motor conduction time in malnourished children
S K Tamer1, S Misra, S Jaiswal
1Division of Neurology, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, India.
Archives of Disease in Childhood
|December 6, 1997
Summary
Malnourished children exhibit impaired descending motor pathway function. Transcranial magnetic stimulation revealed increased cortical thresholds and prolonged central motor conduction times in their arm and leg muscles, indicating neurological deficits.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatric Neurology
- Clinical Electrophysiology
Background:
- Malnutrition can impact neurological development and function.
- Assessing the integrity of motor pathways is crucial for understanding the effects of malnutrition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the functional status of descending motor pathways in malnourished children.
- To compare electrophysiological parameters between malnourished children and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Utilized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to assess motor pathway function.
- Recorded muscle evoked potentials from abductor pollicis brevis (arm) and extensor digitorum brevis (leg) muscles.
- Measured cortical threshold, cortical latency, and central motor conduction time.
Main Results:
- Malnourished children showed significantly increased cortical thresholds for both arm and leg muscles compared to controls.
- A significant prolongation of central motor conduction time was observed in the abductor pollicis brevis muscle of malnourished children.
Conclusions:
- Malnutrition adversely affects the descending motor pathways, leading to measurable electrophysiological changes.
- TMS is a valuable tool for detecting subclinical motor pathway dysfunction in pediatric malnutrition.