Chandelle's set up. Experimental and modeling approaches are used in our laboratory to examine how peripheral and spinal elements of the human neuromuscular system are organized for the control of muscle force. Experiments involve electrophysiological studies in human subjects including the recording and stimulation of single sensory axons and motor axons using microneurographic techniques. With this methodology, it is possible to monitor the neural codes projecting to and from the spinal cord in awake subjects during the performance of volitional motor tasks. Computer models incorporate experimental findings to explore how the ensemble behavior of populations of neurons may give rise to coordinated motor responses.
Current work focuses on neural and muscular mechanisms of fatigue.
In addition, experiments are underway to evaluate functional connectivity between various sensory inputs and motor neurons in human subjects. Cross-correlation analyses are applied to these recordings of sensory and motor activity to assess the efficacy of input from afferent systems onto motor neurons and how the strength of this input varies depending on the type of task performed. And most recently, we have initiated experiments to characterize the neural and muscular factors that underlie the exquisite control of human finger movements. This laboratory is suppported by a grants from the National Institutes of Health, AR-42893 and NS39489. This page was last updated October 5, 2000.