Muscle conduction velocity and morphology after prolonged hypoxemia and diabetes in rats.

One of the electrophysiological abnormalities in the experimental rat model of chronic hypoxia (10% O2) and in the experimental rat model of diabetes is an increase in jitter in the stimulated single fibre EMG, which is thought to result from a primary disorder of the axon with its terminal branches. But muscle fibre alterations that influence the propagation of muscle action potentials can also increase jitter. The contribution of possible changes in muscle conduction velocity and muscle morphology to jitter were investigated in the present study.