Morphological and antioxidant responses of Nopalea cochenillifera cv. Maya (edible Opuntia sp. "Kasugai Saboten") to chilling acclimatization.

To clarify the wintering ability of the cactus Nopalea cochenillifera cv. Maya (edible Opuntia sp., common name "Kasugai Saboten"), we investigated the effects of temperature and antioxidant capacity on chilling acclimatization. We analyzed the anatomy of cladode chlorenchyma tissue of plants exposed to light under chilling. We found that chilling acclimatization can be achieved by exposure to approximately 15 °C for 2 weeks and suggest that it is affected by whether or not antioxidant capacity can recover. The overwintering cacti had the thinnest cuticle but firm cuticular wax, which is important in the acquisition of low temperature tolerance under strong light. In cacti with severe chilling injury, round swollen nuclei with clumping chloroplasts were localized in the upper part (axial side) of the cell, as though pushed up by large vacuoles in the lower part. In overwintering cacti, chloroplasts were arranged on the lateral side of the cell as in control plants, but they formed pockets: invaginations with a thin layer of chloroplast stroma that surrounded mitochondria and peroxisomes. Specific cellular structural changes depended on the degree of chilling stress and provide useful insights linking chloroplast behavior and structural changes to the environmental stress response.

Modulations of input-output properties of corticospinal tract neurons by repetitive dynamic index finger abductions.

The goal of this study was to investigate how corticospinal tract neurons (CTNs) are modulated after repetitive dynamic muscle contractions. To address this question, changes of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) to transcranial magnetic stimulation and background EMG (B.EMG) activities were examined. Subjects were instructed to perform an isometric dynamic index finger abduction as accurately as possible under the target-force-matching tasks (10% or 30% MVC), while MEPs of a first dorsal interosseous (FDI) were elicited during performance of the task. After repetitive dynamic FDI contractions (100 trials), the following remarkable phenomena were observed: (1) both B.EMG activities and MEP amplitudes decreased in proportion to the number of trials, (2) these phenomena were most commonly observed in different conditions, i.e., different force levels and hands (preferred or non-preferred hands), and (3) after repetition of the tasks, the MEP amplitude/B.EMG (MEP/B.EMG) ratio became smaller. Decreases of B.EMG activities with reduction of MEP amplitudes and diminishing MEP/B.EMG ratio might suggest the occurrence of reorganization of input-output properties in CTNs for an efficient performance as a function of motor adaptation. Thus, we conclude that motor adaptation after repetitive dynamic muscle contractions probably occurs less specifically and due to susceptible modulations of spinal motoneurons reflected in the integrative functions of CTNs.

Analysis of mechanical impedance in human arm movements using a virtual tennis system.

The dynamic characteristics of human upper extremities are usually expressed by mechanical impedance. Although many studies have discussed human impedance characteristics, there are no reports on control abilities of task-related impedance in skilled human hand movements. This paper proposes a virtual sports system using a virtual reality technique to examine human movements. The differences in movements between skilled and unskilled subjects are investigated through a series of experiments. Then, the human impedance of a skilled player is estimated and analyzed in the preliminary phase of motion.

Further insights into post-exercise effects on H-reflexes and motor evoked potentials of the flexor carpi radialis muscles.

The present study investigated the relative contribution of the cortical and spinal mechanisms for post-exercise excitability changes in human motoneurons. Seven healthy right-handed adults with no known neuromuscular disabilities performed an isometric voluntary wrist flexion at submaximum continuous exertion. After the subjects continued muscle contraction until volitional fatigue, the H-reflexes induced by an electric stimulation and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) from a flexor carpi radialis (FCR) muscle were recorded 7 times every 20 s. The H-reflex was used to assess excitability changes at the spinal level, and the MEP was used to study excitability changes at the cortical level. Hreflexes showed a depression (30% of control value) soon after the cessation of wrist flexion and recovered with time thereafter. On the other hand, an early (short latency) MEP showed facilitation immediately after the cessation of wrist flexion (50% of control value) and thereafter decreased. A possible mechanism for the contradictory results of the 2 tests, in spite of focusing on the same motoneuron pool, might be the different test potential sizes between them. In addition, a late (long latency) MEP response appeared with increasing exercise. With regard to the occurrence of late MEP response, a central mechanism may be proposed to explain the origin-that is, neural pathways with a high threshold that do not participate under normal circumstances might respond to an emergency level of muscle exercise, probably reflecting central effects of fatigue.

Excitability changes of motor evoked potentials dependent on muscle properties and contraction modes.

Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), differences in the excitability changes of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) between isometric (force task) and isotonic (movement task) muscle contractions in a distal (first dorsal interosseous; FDI) and a proximal (middle deltoid; MD) muscle were studied. In the FDI muscle, the active threshold of MEP recruitment was significantly lower in the isotonic than that in the isometric muscle contraction in spite of identical background EMG activity levels. Additionally, the dependence of the MEP amplitude on background EMG activity was significantly greater in the isotonic than in the isometric muscle contraction at low EMG activity levels, but the difference disappeared beyond middle EMG activity levels. In the MD muscle, the dependence of the MEP amplitude on background EMG activity was significantly greater in the isotonic than in the isometric muscle contraction, and further this dependence was kept at all muscle contraction levels. These results indicate that the dependence of the MEP amplitude on background EMG activity is modulated not only by the different muscle contraction modes (isotonic and isometric), but also by muscle properties (distal and proximal). Thus, the present findings suggest that the task-specific extra excitation in the proximal muscle is definitely produced corresponding to task differences (task-dependent subliminal fringe), which might be explained by the predominant frequency principle if applied to the proximal muscle. On the other hand, the lack of task-dependent extra excitation in the distal muscle is explained by the predominant recruitment principle for force grading in small hand muscles.