Solution methods of electrical field problems in physiology.
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Electromagnetic Fields↗
Biomedical subjects
D F Stegeman
Publications and source records attributed to D F Stegeman.
A volume conductor study of compound action potentials of nerves in situ: the forward problem.
A computer model for the stimulation of compound nerve action potentials, based on superposition of volume conducted single nerve fibre potentials, is presented. The model assumes that the intracellular fibre potential, the fibre diameter distribution and the electrical conductivities of different tissues are known. Volume conductor fields are calculated in the spatial frequency domain. The influence of important parameters in the model is evaluated numerically. It is shown that it is necessary to give up the usual assumption of homogeneity and isotropy in the extracellular medium. In the present model parameters are introduced which allow an overall description of the complex morphological and physiological structure of the nerve trunk. Simulation results indicate that the model is a rather promising tool in studying the main properties of compound action potentials which up till now have not been sufficiently well understood.
Action Potentials↗
A study of the motor unit action potential by means of computer simulation.
In order to study the motor unit action potential a computer stimulation model was developed. It is based on the superposition of single muscle fibre potentials of the fibres belonging to the motor unit. The parameters which characterize each fibre (spatial position, diameter, and a dispersion of arrival time of the potential at the electrode) are chosen from statistical distributions which can be derived from anatomical and physiological data. The electrode type, position and dimensions can be specified. Simulated motor unit action potentials are presented in the time and frequency domain. The stimulation results refer to (1) the influence of the electrode position and dimensions with respect to the motor unit territory, (2) the meaning of this model for the study of pathological phenomena, (3) the variability of some parameters characterizing the motor unit, (4) the selectivity of uni- and bipolar electrodes and finally (5) the influence of the geometrical situation of the motor end-plates within the muscle, on the shape of motor unit action potentials.
Action Potentials↗
Sensory potentials and sural nerve biopsy: a model evaluation.
Compound action potentials (CAPs) were recorded from the sural nerve prior to nerve biopsy in patients with various kinds of polyneuropathy. A previously developed volume conductor model for the CAP is applied to analyze the recorded CAPs in close relation with the morphological findings in the biopsy. First, the fiber diameter histograms obtained from the biopsy are used to simulate CAPs, by assuming a linear relation between fiber diameter and propagation velocity. It is concluded that the simulated CAPs deviate systematically from the recorded CAPs. Next, the assumption of a linear diameter-velocity relation is left, and the assumed fiber velocity distribution is adapted to obtain optimal model reconstructions of the recorded CAPs. It is concluded that the model is capable of reconstructing the recorded CAPs, including slow components and small polyphasic potentials in the case of severe fiber loss. It is demonstrated how the diameter histogram and the optimal velocity distribution can be combined to an empirical estimate of the diameter-velocity relation.
Action Potentials↗
Muscle electric activity. I: A model study on the effect of needle electrodes on single fiber action potentials.
Needle recorded electromyographic signals can be expected to be influenced by the presence of the needle, the electrical double layer at the metal-electrolyte interface, and by an edematous layer around the needle electrode. The magnitude of each of these effects is derived from a cylinder symmetrical volume conductor model. Analytical solutions of Laplace's equation have been derived. These are used for simulating single muscle fiber action potentials (SFAPs) recorded by a typical single fiber electrode. The results indicate that there is no short-circuiting effect, in spite of the presence of a highly conducting needle shaft, which is due to the high impedance of the electrical double layer. The insulating properties of the double layer cause the SFAP amplitudes to increase, when the muscle fiber passes the electrode at the side of the leading-off point. The edematous layer counteracts this increase depending on the thickness and the conductivity of this layer. Only slight SFAP wave-form changes are found.
Action Potentials↗
Muscle electric activity. II: On the feasibility of model-based estimation of experimental conditions in electromyography.
From regular one-channel registrations of single muscle fiber action potential no measures on the recording configuration can be derived. When multichannel recordings are made, experimental parameters such as the distance between muscle fiber and needle electrode can be estimated. With the help of a volume conductor model, the single fiber activity at each of the electrodes can be predicted as a function of the recording conditions. Within known physical and physiological constraints such a model approach can be inverted (the inverse model) and used to estimate basic experimental conditions. From eight simultaneous single fiber action potential recordings we estimated (a) the distance between fiber and needle, (b) the axial position of the needle with respect to the muscle fiber, (c) a factor related to the muscle tissue anisotropy, and (d) a factor combining the muscle fiber diameter and the effective muscle tissue conductivity. With the help of a model describing the influence of the needle shaft it is made plausible that the needle inhomogeneity influences the results of the proposed procedure.
Action Potentials↗
Dipole modelling of median nerve SEPs in normal subjects and patients with small subcortical infarcts.
Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to median nerve stimulation were analyzed by means of spatio-temporal dipole modelling in 6 normal subjects and 8 patients with small infarcts in the thalamo-cortical radiation or thalamus. The SEPs could be modelled by a tangentially and a radially oriented equivalent dipole in the region of the contralateral cortical hand area and an equivalent dipole located in the region of the brain-stem. In 3 patients with absence or reduction of amplitudes of cortically generated SEP components, the activity of both cortical dipoles was lost or reduced. In 2 patients the frontally recorded SEP component P20 was lost; in one of them the activity of mainly the tangential dipole was reduced.
Adolescent↗