The H-reflex in experimental spinal cord trauma

Abstract

✓ The H-reflex, the electrical correlate of the monosynaptic stretch reflex, recorded from the median nerve was monitored in cats sustaining controlled impact injuries to the eighth cervical segment of the spinal cord. The H-wave was unchanged in cats that showed only scattered gray matter petechial hemorrhages, whereas the H-wave could not be recorded in cats with central hematoma formation and central cavitation. With intermediate impact injuries that produced a coalescence of gray matter hemorrhages, the H-wave, although initially present, gradually diminished in amplitude and disappeared completely in approximately 2 hours.