Correspondence between the location of evoked potential generators and sites of maximal sensitivity to stimulation.

Abstract

The potential recorded by a set of electrodes as an action potential traverses a small axonal segment is proportional to the transmembrane potential produced during stimulation of that axon segment by the same set of recording electrodes, under certain circumstances. First, the membrane must have a constant thickness which is so small that the difference between the surface area of the inner and outer surfaces is minimal. Second, all media must be linear. Third, there must be a monotonically increasing relation between the mean transmembrane potential induced by a stimulus and the maximum transmembrane potential. Fourth, as each axon segment depolarizes, the transmembrane current and change in membrane potential during this time are same. This principle remains true for magnetic stimulation and recording as long as currents generated at the boundaries between regions of differing conductivity outside the axon contribute minimally to the field at the axon. This allows the identification of the point at which an action potential generates a maximal extracellular potential as the point that is stimulated with the lowest threshold.