Early evoked potentials detected from the scalp of man following infraorbital nerve stimulation.

Stimulation of the infraorbital nerve evoked a short latency scalp response characterized by a large amplitude triphasic potential (W1), followed by two smaller negative deflections (W2 and W3). All these waves were presynaptic in origin (as shown by double pulse stimulation), but appeared to be generated by separate dipoles. Short distance bipolar recording showed that W1 travelled from the zygoma to the mastoid. This wave was thought to be generated in a nearby neural structure, presumably the proximal part of the maxillary nerve, the gasserian ganglion and possibly even the trigeminal root. W2 and W3 components were probably generated by the trigeminal root fibres running through the brain-stem. Their origin from slowly conducting trigeminal fibres was ruled out by their absence in short distance bipolar records along the line from the zygomatic bone to the mastoid process, and by studies on their thresholds, which were shown to be identical to those of W1. Control experiments with concurrent facial muscle recording excluded any possible contamination of the scalp response to infraorbital nerve stimulation by electromyographic activity, and demonstrated gross muscular artefacts, picked up as far-field activity by scalp electrodes, following electrical stimulation of the upper lip.