Gilmore R L, Bass N H, Wright E A, Greathouse D, Stanback K, Norvell E
Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1985 Jul;62(4):241-51. doi: 10.1016/0168-5597(85)90002-4.
Somesthetic information from lower extremities is processed by cerebral cortex after traversing the sensory pathways of peripheral nerve, spinal cord, brain-stem and thalamus. Clinical utility of somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) during human development requires systematic analysis of normative data acquired during various stages of body growth and nervous system maturation. Accordingly, SSEPs after tibial nerve stimulation were studied in 32 normal awake children (1-8 years old) and compared with values obtained in young adults (18-40 years old). Potentials were recorded from the tibial nerve (N5), first lumbar spinous process (N14), seventh cervical spinous process (N20) and from the scalp, 2 cm behind the vertex (P28). In all children studied, the N5, N14 and N20 latencies were positively correlated with age and height yielding a predictive nomogram. An extremely variable electropositive cortical SSEP was recorded from Cz' which did not show a highly predictable linear relationship in association with a relatively poor correlation coefficient for height and age. It may be concluded that between 1 and 8 years of normal postnatal development, latencies reflecting peripheral nerve and lumbar spinal cord vary directly with height and age and can be represented by a simple cable model of a lengthening myelinated pathway. In contrast, the latency of the cortical SSEP reflects asynchronous maturation of elongating polysynaptic pathways and apparently requires a more complex model for prediction in order to enhance its clinical utility.
来自下肢的躯体感觉信息在经过外周神经、脊髓、脑干和丘脑的感觉通路后，由大脑皮层进行处理。在人类发育过程中，体感诱发电位（SSEPs）的临床应用需要对身体生长和神经系统成熟的各个阶段所获取的标准数据进行系统分析。因此，对32名正常清醒儿童（1 - 8岁）进行了胫神经刺激后的SSEPs研究，并与年轻成年人（18 - 40岁）获得的值进行了比较。电位记录于胫神经（N5）、第一腰椎棘突（N14）、第七颈椎棘突（N20）以及头顶后方2厘米处的头皮（P28）。在所有研究的儿童中，N5、N14和N20潜伏期与年龄和身高呈正相关，得出了一个预测列线图。从Cz'记录到一个极不稳定的正性皮质SSEP，其与身高和年龄的相关系数相对较差，未显示出高度可预测的线性关系。可以得出结论，在出生后1至8年的正常发育过程中，反映外周神经和腰脊髓的潜伏期随身高和年龄直接变化，并且可以用一个延长的有髓通路的简单电缆模型来表示。相比之下，皮质SSEP的潜伏期反映了延长的多突触通路的异步成熟，显然需要一个更复杂的模型来进行预测，以提高其临床应用价值。
