筋磁図による筋機能の解析

抄録

In recent years SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) technology has developed rapidly in both sensitivity and number of recording channels. Biomagnetic measurements based on SQUID technology are considered to have great potential in the analysis of brain and heart functions. They are also applicable to skeletal muscles and may provide a new method for diagnosing neuromuscular functions. To clarify the capability for biomagnetic measurements, the magnetic recording technique was applied to the vastus lateralis and the vastus medialis of three healthy male adults. Magnetic fields were measured with a 64-channel SQUID system. Discharges of single motor units were simultaneously detected by surface electromyography under a weak voluntary contraction. The magnetic signals were averaged for 64 to 158 times at the zero-crossings in the surface electromyogram. Six motor units were detected in the three subjects. The isofield maps of magnetic fields showed current sources arising from the motor endplate regions and spreading in opposite directions to the tendons. A current octupole moving along muscle fibers explains these magnetic fields. Because the magnitude of the magnetic fields is directly proportional to the intensity of the currents in the muscle fibers and is independent of the conductivity of the surrounding medium under certain conditions, it is possible to calculate the intensity of the currents in the muscle fibers. To improve the accuracy of such calculations, a model of the muscle fiber action currents was developed, taking into consideration the intensity and duration of the current source. A magnetic field was calculated from an octupole current model. The measured magnetomyographic signal waveform was deconvoluted with the calculated magnetic field signal produced by a single muscle fiber. The area of the deconvoluted waveform represents the number of active muscle fibers, which was estimated at 708 to 1,791 (average 1,088±480) for the six motor units detected. These numbers were 6.5 times larger than those estimated from the intensity of the current source alone without considering its duration, and were close to the invasively obtained values. The number of muscle fibers contained in a muscle or a motor unit has until now been estimated only by an anatomical method. Noninvasive magnetic measurement should therefore contribute to the diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases that cause the decrement or shrinkage of muscle fibers.