AN ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDY OF SMALL MYELINATED AXONS IN ANTEROLATERAL COLUMN IN CAT

Abstract

Thirty-one cats under intraperitoneal Nembutal anesthesia were studied to demonstrate the relations of the component parts of the peripheral nerve action potential to evoked spinal cord responses by means of threshold, velocity, and wave form comparisons. Evoked responses from peripheral nerve to ipsilateral dorsal column were shown to relate to A fibers in the nerve. Evoked responses in the opposite anterolateral quadrant of the cord, adjacent to the anterior gray matter, were related to the smaller and more slowly conducting gamma fibers of peripheral nerve. Characteristics and localization of the anterolateral potential in spinal segments C 2 and T 11 were demonstrated.