Atunomic Neuropathy Clinical Trial
Official title:
Proprioception and Sensorimotor Control in Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy
This project comprises three sets of physiological studies - testing eight specific
hypotheses - that will contribute new knowledge on proprioception and motor control in a
genetic disorder that affects specific components of the sensory nervous system.
I: To investigate the neurophysiological basis for disturbed motor control in Hereditary
sensory and autonomic neuropathy (HSAN) III II: To investigate the effects of enhancing
cutaneous feedback on motor control in HSAN III III: To investigate the cortical
representation of proprioceptive inputs in HSAN III
HSAN III patients (n=15) and healthy control subjects (n=15) will lay supine on an MRI bed and a tungsten microelectrode inserted percutaneously into a muscle or cutaneous fascicle of the right common peroneal nerve at the fibular head, according to standard techniques employed by Prof Macefield. Neural activity will be acquired, RMS-processed (200 ms) and analysed on computer. The subject's head will be tightly enclosed in a standard clinical 32-channel SENSE head coil and headphones will be provided to minimize noise and to allow communication with the subject. The subject will be placed in the bore of a 3T whole-body scanner for 60-90 minutes. ;