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Cortical Neuromagnetic Fields Preceding Voluntary Jaw Movements

Oral Health Science Center, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba 261-8502, Japan;
¹ Department of Physiology, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba 261-8502, Japan;
² Department of Oral Physiology, Matsumoto Dental University, Shiojiri, 399-0781, Japan; and
³ Department of Welfare and Information, Teikyo Heisei University, Ichihara 290-0193, Japan;

Correspondence: ^* corresponding author, yshibuka{at}tdc.ac.jp

Slow cortical potentials (readiness potentials, RPs) reflecting the central programming of voluntary jaw movements were reported to appear preceding the movements. However, the current source producing the RP has not yet been localized. This study aimed to determine the cortical regions involved in the central programming of bilaterally symmetrical voluntary jaw movements, by locating the current source of the neuromagnetic counterpart of the RP (readiness field, RF). The RFs were found in the fronto-lateral region bilaterally, starting around 860 and 600 ms prior to the onset of masseter and digastric electromyograms (EMGs), respectively, and gradually increasing in magnitude to the peak within 100 ms before the EMG onset. Thus, the RFs appeared long before the reported onset of the excitability increase of pyramidal tract neurons. The current sources producing the RFs were located in the precentral gyrus bilaterally, with no bilateral differences in strength. We conclude that the primary motor cortex is involved bilaterally in central programming as well as in execution of bilaterally symmetrical voluntary jaw movements.

Key Words: MEG • readiness field • voluntary jaw movements • equivalent current dipole • precentral gyrus

Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 83, No. 7, 572-577 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/154405910408300712


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