Increased probability of repetitive spinal motoneuron activation by transcranial magnetic stimulation after muscle fatigue in healthy subjects

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Triple stimulation technique (TST) has previously shown that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) fails to activate a proportion of spinal motoneurons (MNs) during motor fatigue. The TST response depression without attenuation of the conventional motor evoked potential suggested increased probability of repetitive spinal MN activation during exercise even if some MNs failed to discharge by the brain stimulus. Here we used a modified TST (Quadruple stimulation; QuadS and Quintuple stimulation; QuintS) to examine the influence of fatiguing exercise on second and third MN discharges after a single TMS in healthy subjects. This method allows an estimation of the percentage of double and triple discharging MNs. Following a sustained contraction of the abductor digiti minimi muscle at 50% maximal force maintained to exhaustion the size of QuadS and QuintS responses increased markedly, reflecting that a greater proportion of spinal MNs were activated 2 or 3 times by the transcranial stimulus. The size of QuadS responses did not return to pre-contraction levels during 10 min observation time indicating long-lasting increase in excitatory input to spinal MNs. In addition, the post-exercise behavior of QuadS responses was related to the duration of the contraction pointing to a correlation between repeated activation of MNs and the subject's ability to maintain force. In conclusion, the study confirmed that an increased fraction of spinal MNs fire more than once in response to TMS when the muscle is fatigued. Repetitive MN firing may provide an adaptive mechanism to maintain motor unit activation and task performance during sustained voluntary activity.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Applied Physiology
Volume112
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)832-840
ISSN8750-7587
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes

ID: 40172073