| evoked potentials, auditory, brainstem | Electrical waves in the cerebral cortex generated by brainstem structures in response to auditory click stimuli. These are found to be abnormal in many patients with cerebellopontine angle lesions, multiple sclerosis, or other demyelinating diseases. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| evoked potentials, motor | The electrical response evoked in a muscle or motor nerve by electrical or magnetic stimulation. Common methods of stimulation are by transcranial electrical and transcranial magnetic stimulation. It is often used for monitoring during neurosurgery. (12 Dec 1998) |
| evoked potentials, somatosensory | The electric response evoked in the cerebral cortex by stimulation of afferent pathways from peripheral nerves to cerebrum. (12 Dec 1998) |
| evoked potentials, visual | The electric response evoked in the cerebral cortex by visual stimulation or stimulation of the visual pathways. (12 Dec 1998) |
| evoked response | An alteration in the electrical activity of a region of the nervous system through which an incoming sensory stimulus is passing; may be somatosensory (SER), auditory (BAER), or visual (VER). See: evoked potential. (05 Mar 2000) |
| evoked response audiometry | A type of electrophysiologic audiometry in which electrical potentials of neural impulses from the cochlear nerve and various levels in the brain in response to acoustic stimulation are used to localise the site of a lesion causing a hearing loss. (05 Mar 2000) |
| action potential | <physiology> The sequential, electrochemical polarization and depolarisation that travels across the membrane of a nerve cell (neuron) in response to stimulation (touch, pain, cold, etc.) (09 Oct 1997) |
| bioelectric potential | Electrical potential's occurring in living organisms. (05 Mar 2000) |
| biological hazard potential | <radiobiology> Measure of the hazard posed by a given quantity of radioactive material in which the variation in biological effects of the various elements are accounted for. See: integrated biological hazard potential. (21 Mar 1998) |
| biotic potential | <biology, ecology> The potential growth a population of living things can expect if it were living under ideal environmental circumstances. (19 Jan 1998) |
| body surface potential mapping | Recording of regional electrophysiological information by analysis of surface potentials to give a complete picture of the effects of the currents from the heart on the body surface. It has been applied to the diagnosis of old inferior myocardial infarction, localization of the bypass pathway in wolff-parkinson-white syndrome, recognition of ventricular hypertrophy, estimation of the size of a myocardial infarct, and the effects of different interventions designed to reduce infarct size. The limiting factor at present is the complexity of the recording and analysis, which requires 100 or more electrodes, sophisticated instrumentation, and dedicated personnel. (12 Dec 1998) |
| brain potential | <physiology> The electrical charge of the brain as compared to a point on the body; the potential may be steady (DC potential) or may fluctuate at specific frequencies when recorded against time, giving rise to the electroencephalogram. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pacemaker potential | The voltage inscribed by impulses from an artificial electronic pacemaker. (05 Mar 2000) |
| generator potential | Local depolarisation of the membrane potential at the end of a sensory neurone in graded response to the strength of a stimulus applied to the associated receptor organ, e.g., a pacinian corpuscle; if the generator potential becomes large enough (because the stimulus is at least of threshold strength), it causes excitation at the nearest node of Ranvier and a propagated action potential. (05 Mar 2000) |
| receptor potential | The transmembrane potential difference of a sensory cell. Such cells are not generally excitable, but their response to stimulation is a gradual change in their resting potential. (18 Nov 1997) |