Conditioning effect in single human motoneurones: a new method using the unitary H reflex.

1. A new method for the study of spinal reflexes using single motor units is described. 2. The excitability of a motoneurone is assessed as the 'critical firing stimulus' (CFS), which is the difference between the test stimulus intensity needed to reach the threshold for the lowest threshold Ia fibres and the intensity which evokes firing of a motor unit with the probability of 50% (FP50%). The intensity with FP50% is obtained by modulating stimulator output. When the motor unit is fired by a stimulus, the next intensity is decreased, and vice versa. The Ia threshold is defined as the threshold for homonymous monosynaptic peaks in PSTHs during contraction of the muscle examined. 3. A conditioning effect is represented as a change in CFS, the extent being expressed as a percentage of the unconditioned CFS. 4. Effects obtained by conditioning stimulation with the new and conventional H reflex methods are compared. The sensitivities are almost the same and the extents of the effects have highly correlated linear relations for the two methods. 5. The advantages of the new method are (1) that it shows reflex activities on a single motoneurone, (2) that it is applicable both to muscles at rest and during contraction, and (3) that it quantifies conditioning effects as percentages of the size of test Ia EPSPs.