Associative stimulation of the supraorbital nerve fails to induce timing-specific plasticity in the human blink reflex

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Associative high-frequency electrical stimulation (HFS) of the supraorbital nerve in five healthy individuals induced long-term potentiation (LTP)-like or depression (LTD)-like changes in the human blink reflex circuit according to the rules of spike timing-dependent plasticity (Mao and Evinger, 2001). HFS given at the onset of the R2 component of the blink reflex (HFS(LTP)) produced a lasting facilitation of the R2, whereas HFS given shortly before R2 (HFS(LTD)) caused a lasting suppression of the R2. In patients with benign essential blepharospasm (BEB), a focal dystonia affecting the orbicularis oculi muscles, HFS(LTP) induced excessive LTP-like associative plasticity relative to healthy controls, which was normalized after botulinum toxin (BTX) injections (Quartarone et al, 2006).
Original languageEnglish
JournalP L o S One
Volume5
Issue number10
Pages (from-to)e13602
ISSN1932-6203
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2010

    Research areas

  • Adult, Blinking, Case-Control Studies, Electric Stimulation, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neuronal Plasticity, Reflex

ID: 33437863