Conduction velocity distributions compared to fiber size distributions in normal human sural nerve.

Compound action potentials (CAPs) were recorded from the sural nerve of healthy volunteers. A mathematical technique (inverse modeling) was used to compute conduction velocity (CV) histograms from the data. Results were compared to the morphology of age-matched normal sural nerve biopsies. Coefficients of variation (CoVs) revealed the statistical relationship between morphological data (diameter histograms) and electrophysiological data (CV histograms and conventional CAP parameters). No differences were found for the thick fiber group when comparing the CoVs of the diameter histogram parameters with the corresponding CV histogram parameters. Apparently, the same inherent biological interindividual variability is encountered. The CoVs of the CVs of the CAP's main phases are in good agreement with the CoVs of the estimated mean velocity of the thick fiber group. Inverse modeling increases the reliability of the estimation of the number of active fibers as compared to direct CAP amplitude interpretation.