This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (33)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

FORBES H. NORRIS, JR., MD

Arch Neurol. 1965;13(5):495-500.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Introduction

FASCICULATION of muscle occurs most often in diseases of the spinal cord and roots, particularly in such motor neuron degenerations as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It seems established, however, that fasciculation in a muscle is not abolished by spinal^1-3 or peripheral nerve anesthesia.^3-6 Except for one unusual case,⁷ fasciculation is abolished by curarization, which suggests that the locus of hyperexcitability is at a neuromuscular junction and spreads antidromically to activate some or all of the motor unit.³ Denervation by means of nerve resection in three ALS patients abolished fasciculation 8, 11, and 12 days after the operation.⁸ This result correlates with the time-course of degeneration in the distal nerve branches and provides support for a peripheral axon-reflex mechanism of fasciculation.

On the other hand, an electromyographic (EMG) characteristic of fasciculation in ALS and related diseases is bizarre, giant action potentials^9,10 which may be . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
ROCHESTER, NY

From the Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Footnotes
Submitted for publication June 7, 1965; accepted July 6.

Reprint requests to Department of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14620.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?