Microneurography

Microneurography

Microneurography is a technique used in the field of neuroscience to measure post-ganglionic sympathetic neural activity of the muscle and skin. One aspect of this technique that makes it especially useful is that it can be performed in vivo in human subjects who are awake. A microelectrode is inserted through the skin and into the nerve fiber to be studied. Recordings of muscle sympathetic neuronal activity (MSNA) and skin sympathetic neuronal activity (SSNA) have shown the presence of several classes of sensory receptors, including those to pain and temperature. The effects of gravity and pressure on the sympathetic nervous system have also been studied using microneurography; one experiment was even performed in space by astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. In addition to providing an ability to study the human sympathetic nervous system in vivo, microneurography has the benefit of being minimally invasive and very locally specific since it is able to distinguish between action potentials from individual fibers.