Surface electroneurography of the tibial nerve in dogs

Abstract

Electroneurography measures the speed of the action potential after nerve stimulation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the motor nerve conduction velocity in the tibial nerve after surface stimulation in healthy dogs, to correlate the obtained data by biological factors, and to compare these results with published findings utilizing needle electrodes. The study was performed in 11 clinically healthy dogs without anaesthesia. There were significant correlations among several indicators (age, limb length, conduction velocity, latency and duration of compound muscle action potentials). Age was found to have a significant effect on the duration of the compound muscle action potential from both stimulation sites (proximal/distal; r = 0.68, r = 0.71, P < 0.05), but there was no effect on the conduction velocity or amplitude of the compound muscle action potentials. Limb length was found to have a significant effect on the duration of the compound muscle action potential from the distal stimulation site (r = 0.64, P < 0.05), a significant effect on the conduction velocity (r = −0.91, P < 0.01), and a significant effect on the amplitude of the compound muscle action potential from both stimulation sites (proximal/distal; r = −0.76, r = −0.63, P < 0.01, P < 0.05 respectively). These results indicate that limb length should be considered as the most important biological factor in tibial nerve conduction studies and that electroneurography in dogs could be performed non-invasively, without a danger of infection, haematomas or complications related to anaesthesia.