Quantitative features of myoelectric signals in the orbicularis oculi muscle during different motion states

Artificial facial nerve prostheses are thought to restore eye-closed function in peripheral facial paralysis patients.At present,however,there is no adequate quantitative or qualitative information regarding myoelectric signal（MES）features for healthy orbiculads oculi muscle（OOM）.The present study analyzed MES features of normal OOM in rabbits during the natural continuous eye-opening（N1）state,natural continuous eye-closing（N2）state,natural blink（N3）state,and evoked eye-closing（E）state according to time domain and frequency domain analysis.Results showed that OOM electrical activities in N1 and N2 states,as well as myoelectric amplitude,were low and stable.Nevertheless,during N3 and E states,OOM electrical activities were significantly increased and amplitude was much higher in the E state than in the N3 state.In the time domain,differences in MES peak absolute potential were not significant between N1 and N2 states,in the frequency domain,differences in power spectral density peak frequency of electromyogram signals were significant between two sets of four OOM movement states.These results suggest that OOM significantly contracts and induces eyelid-closing action.In addition,OOM is diastolic during the N1state.A N2 state does not require continuous intensive OOM contraction.Moreover,distinctions of quantitative information in time and frequency domain features of MES can be used as an OOM reference to identify muscle movement patterns.

Nerve function restoration following targeted muscle reinnervation after varying delayed periods

Targeted muscle reinnervation has been proposed for reconstruction of neuromuscular function in amputees.However,it is unknown whether performing delayed targeted muscle reinnervation after nerve injury will affect restoration of function.In this rat nerve injury study,the median and musculocutaneous nerves of the forelimb were transected.The proximal median nerve stump was sutured to the distal musculocutaneous nerve stump immediately and 2 and 4 weeks after surgery to reinnervate the biceps brachii.After targeted muscle reinnervation,intramuscular myoelectric signals from the biceps brachii were recorded.Signal amplitude gradually increased with time.Biceps brachii myoelectric signals and muscle fiber morphology and grooming behavior did not significantly differ among rats subjected to delayed target muscle innervation for different periods.Targeted muscle reinnervation delayed for 4 weeks can acquire the same nerve function restoration effect as that of immediate reinnervation.

Exploring the mechanism of neural-function reconstruction by reinnervated nerves in targeted muscles

A lack of myoelectric sources after limb amputation is a critical challenge in the control of multifunctional motorized prostheses. To reconstruct myoelectric sources physiologically related to lost limbs, a newly proposed neural-function construc- tion method, targeted muscle reinnervation （TMR）, appears promising. Recent advances in the TMR technique suggest that TMR could provide additional motor command information for the control of multifimctional myoelectric prostheses. However, little is known about the nature of the physiological functional recovery of the reinnervated muscles. More understanding of the under- lying mechanism of TMR could help us fine tune the technique to maximize its capability to achieve a much higher performance in the control of multifunctional prostheses. In this study, rats were used as an animal model for TMR surgery involving transferring a median nerve into the pectoralis major, which served as the target muscle. Intramuscular myoelectric signals reconstructed following TMR were recorded by implanted wire electrodes and analyzed to explore the nature of the neural-fimction recon- struction achieved by reinnervation of targeted muscles. Our results showed that the active myoelectric signal reconstructed in the targeted muscle was acquired one week after TMR surgery, and its amplitude gradually became stronger over time. These pre- liminary results from rats may serve as a basis for exploring the mechanism of neural-function reconstruction by the TMR tech- nique in human subjects.