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Hugh Bostock, Emeritus Professor of Neurophysiology, Institute of Neurology, University College London, is visiting Aarhus and will give a guest talk entitled: Threshold tracking as a tool to investigate nerve physiology and neuropathies.
2015.11.12 |
| Date | Wed 13 Jan |
| Time | 15:00 — 17:00 |
| Location | DNC Auditorium, Aarhus University Hospital, Building 10G, Nørrebrogade 44, Aarhus C |
Abstract
When a nerve axon is depolarized or hyperpolarized by as little as one millivolt, the threshold current required to just excite it is measurably reduced or increased respectively. Similarly, the ‘threshold’ current required to excite a defined fraction of axons in a nerve provides a very sensitive indication of changes in membrane potential. When subthreshold, electrotonic changes in membrane potential are induced by weak polarizing currents, they may therefore be followed by computerized tracking of the accompanying changes in threshold, or ‘threshold electrotonus’. Threshold electrotonus depends in a complicated way on the resting membrane potential, ion channels and other electrical properties of the nerve fibres, and together with other excitability measurements can provide detailed information about membrane abnormalities in neuropathies within a ten-minute, non-invasive procedure.
Threshold tracking provides information about motor or sensory axons that is quite different, but complementary to that provided by conventional nerve conduction studies. This talk will describe the principles of the method and give examples of its application to genetic and chemotherapy-induced channelopathies, uraemic and diabetic neuropathy, spinal cord injury and motor neurone diseases, and as a biomarker for disease progression and drug treatments.
Download abstract
Read more about Prof Hugh Bostock:
iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile
ALL ARE WELCOME!
After the talk, IDNC offers coffee, cake and fruit in front of the auditorium.