Failure of muscular blood flow regulation in immune neuropathies

Objective: We applied functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) endogenous contrast and single voxel functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) to assess the response of human skeletal muscle to electrically imposed exercise in a standard clinical 1.5 Tesla MR imager. Methods: Supramaximal repetitive electrical stimulation of the peroneal nerve was applied at 20Hz during 2 minutes in the MR imager. Series of BOLD echo planar images (EPI) of the corresponding leg muscles were acquired before and after the electrically imposed exercise, as well as fMRS before, du…