Stimulated single fibre electromyography in normal dogs

A technique for the evaluation of neuromuscular transmission using single fibre electromyography was developed for the peroneus longus muscle of dogs. Individual muscle fibre action potentials were recorded in 10 dogs, with a specialised needle electrode, during repetitive axon‐al stimulation at the motor point of the right peroneus longus muscle. Variability in latency from stimulus artefact to action potential was evaluated for 50 to 100 consecutive discharges for several fibres in the muscle of each dog. Latency variability (jitter) was expressed as the mean of consecutive differences (MCD) in latency for each muscle fibre. A mean of MCDS was calculated for the muscle of each animal. The upper limits of normal for the peroneus longus suggested by this study are 30 us (for individual muscle fibres) and 19 μs (for mean of group of fibres).