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Corticospinal excitability during shortening and lengthening actions with incremental torque output

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posted on 2021-03-10, 10:24 authored by Jakob SkarabotJakob Skarabot, Jamie Tallent, Stuart Goodall, Rade Durbaba, Glyn Howatson
The modulation of motor evoked potentials (MEPs), an index of corticospinal excitability, has been shown to increase during isometric contractions with incremental torque output in accordance with the contribution between motor unit recruitment and firing rate of the muscle to increases in required torque output. However, the motor unit strategy of the muscle might not be the only factor influencing this behaviour, because differences in pre‐ and postsynaptic control have been reported between lengthening and shortening or isometric contractions. In 30 healthy adults, MEPs were elicited in tibialis anterior during shortening and lengthening contractions at 15, 25, 50 and 80% of contraction‐type‐specific maximal voluntary contraction torque. Background EMG activity increased progressively with greater torque output (P < 0.001) but was similar between contraction types (P = 0.162). When normalized to the maximal muscle response, MEPs were greater during shortening compared with lengthening contractions (P = 0.004) and increased stepwise with increased contraction intensities (P = 0.001). These data show an increase in corticospinal excitability with torque output from lower to higher contraction intensities, suggesting a greater contribution of motor unit recruitment to increased nervous system gain in the tibialis anterior. Despite differences in corticospinal control of shortening and lengthening contractions, the data suggest that the corticospinal responses to increases in torque output are not dependent on contraction type, because corticospinal excitability increased to a similar extent during shortening and lengthening actions. Thus, it is likely that the relationship between motor unit recruitment and firing rate of the muscle is the main determinant of corticospinal output with variations in nervous system gain.

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

Experimental Physiology

Volume

103

Issue

12

Pages

1586 - 1592

Publisher

Wiley

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Rights holder

© The Authors. Experimental Physiology © The Physiological Society

Publisher statement

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: ŠKARABOT, J. ... et al, 2018. Corticospinal excitability during shortening and lengthening actions with incremental torque output. Experimental Physiology, 103 (12), pp.1586-1592, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1113/EP087347. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

Acceptance date

2018-10-02

Publication date

2018-10-16

Copyright date

2018

ISSN

0958-0670

eISSN

1469-445X

Language

  • en

Depositor

Dr Jakob Skarabot. Deposit date: 9 March 2021

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