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MODULE 3
Neuronal communication - Measurements from the nervous system Electroencephalography- Lead
system -10-20 Electrode system, EEG Block diagram - EEG waveforms and features – Brain-
Computer interfacing.-Electromyography- Block diagram of EMG recorders – Nerve conduction
velocity- Respiratory parameters measurements – Spiro meter - Pneumography

NEURONAL COMMUNICATION

Functions of the Nervous System:

1. Gathers information from both inside and outside the body - Sensory Function

2. Transmits information to the processing areas of the brain and spine

3. Processes the information in the brain and spine – Integration Function

4. Sends information to the muscles, glands, and organs so they can respond appropriately –
Motor Function

 It controls and coordinates all essential functions of the body including all other body
systems allowing the body to maintain homeostasis or its delicate balance.
 The Nervous System is divided into Two Main Divisions: Central Nervous System
(CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

Divisions of the Nervous system:

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Three types of Neurons:

 Sensory neurons – bring messages to CNS

 Motor neurons - carry messages from CNS
 Interneurons – between sensory & motor neurons in the CNS
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY

 Electroencephalography or EEG, is used to record all the electrical activity generated by the
brain using electrodes placed on the scalp surface.
 The EEG has a very complex pattern, which is more difficult to read than the ECG.
 The waveform varies greatly with the location of the measuring electrodes on the surface of
the scalp.
EEG MEASUREMENT- TYPES OF ELECTRODES IN EEG

Several types of electrodes may be used to record EEG.

These include:

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1. Peel electrodes 2. Stick electrodes

3. Silver plated cup electrodes 4. Needle electrodes
EEG electrodes are smaller in size than ECG electrodes.
They may be applied separately to the scalp or may be mounted in special bands, which can be
placed on the patient’s head.
In either case, electrode jelly or paste is used to improve the electrical contact.
If the electrodes are intended to be used under the skin of the scalp, needle electrodes are used.
EEG electrodes give high skin contact impedance as compared to ECG electrodes.
Good electrode impedance should be generally below 5 kilohms.
Impedance between a pair of electrodes must also be balanced or the difference between them
should be less than 2 kilohms.
EEG preamplifiers are generally designed to have a very high value of input impedance to take
care of high electrode impedance.
EEG may be recorded by picking up the voltage difference between an active electrode on the
scalp with respect to a reference electrode on the ear lobe or any other part of the body.
This type of recording is called ‘monopolar’ recording.
However, ‘bipolar’ recording is more popular wherein the voltage difference between two scalp
electrodes is recorded.
Such recordings are done with multi-channel electroencephalographs.
EEG signals picked up by the surface electrodes are usually small as compared with the ECG
signals.
They may be several hundred microvolts, but 50 microvolts peak-to-peak is the most typical.
The brainwaves, unlike the electrical activity of the heart, do not represent the same pattern over
and over again.
Therefore, brain recordings are made over a much longer interval of time in order to be able to
detect any kind of abnormalities
PLACEMENT OF ELECTRODES IN EEG

The 10/20 system or international 10/20 system is an internationally recognized method to

describe the location of the scalp electrodes.
The system is based on the relationship between the location of an electrode and the underlying
area of cerebral cortex.
The numbers ‘10’ and ‘20’ refer to the fact that the distance between adjacent electrodes are
either 10% or 20% of the total front-back or right-left distance of the skull.

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Each site has a letter to identify the lobe and a number to identify the hemisphere location.

No central lobe exists; the ‘C’ letter is used for identification purposes only.
The ‘z’ (zero) refers to an electrode placed on the mid line.
Even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8) refer to electrode positions on the right hemisphere.
Odd numbers ( 3, 5, 7, 9) refer to electrode positions on the left hemisphere
EEG RECORDING
The basic block diagram of an EEG machine with both analog and digital components is shown here

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MONTAGES
A pattern of electrodes on the head and the channels they are connected to is called a
montage.
Montages are always symmetrical.
The reference electrode is generally placed on a non-active site such as the forehead or
earlobe.
EEG electrodes are arranged on the scalp according to a standard known as the 10/20 system,
adopted by the American EEG Society

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WRITING PART
The writing part of an EEG machine is usually of the ink type direct writing recorder.
The best types of pen motors used in EEG machines have a frequency response of about 90 Hz.

CHANNELS
An electroencephalogram is recoded simultaneously from an array of many electrodes.
The record can be made from bipolar or monopolar leads.
The electrodes are connected to separate amplifiers and writing systems.
Commercial EEG machines have up to 32 channels, although 8 or 16 channels are more common

BRAIN WAVES
 At the root of all our thoughts, emotions and behaviours is the communication between
neurons within our brains.
 Brainwaves are produced by synchronized electrical pulses from masses of neurons
communicating with each other.
 Brainwaves are detected using sensors placed on the scalp. They are divided into
bandwidths to describe their functions.
 It is a handy analogy to think of brainwaves as musical notes - the low frequency waves
are like a deeply penetrating drum beat, while the higher frequency brainwaves are more
like a subtle high pitched flute.
 Our brainwaves change according to what we’re doing and feeling.
 When slower brainwaves are dominant we can feel tired, slow or dreamy.
 The higher frequencies are dominant when we feel wired, or hyper-alert.
 Brainwave speed is measured in Hertz (cycles per second) and they are divided into
bands delineating slow, moderate, and fast waves.
 When our brainwaves are out of balance, there will be corresponding problems in our
emotional or neuro-physical health.

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BETA WAVES (12 TO 38 HZ)

Beta brainwaves dominate our normal waking state of consciousness when attention is directed
towards cognitive tasks and the outside world.
Beta is a ‘fast’ activity, present when we are alert, attentive, engaged in problem solving,
judgment, decision making, or focused mental activity.
Beta brainwaves are further divided into three bands;
Lo-Beta (Beta1, 12-15Hz)
Beta (Beta2, 15-22Hz)
Hi-Beta (Beta3, 22-38Hz)

GAMMA WAVES (38 TO 42 HZ)

Gamma brainwaves are the fastest of brain waves (high frequency, like a flute), and relate to
simultaneous processing of information from different brain areas.
Gamma brainwaves pass information rapidly and quietly.

Brain-Computer interfacing

 Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) are systems that allow communication between the brain
and various machines.
 They work in three main steps: collecting brain signals, interpreting them and outputting
commands to a connected machine according to the brain signal received.

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 BCI can be applied to a variety of tasks, including but not limited to neurofeedback,
restoring motor function to paralyzed patients, allowing communication with locked in
patients and improving sensory processing.
 BCI can be separated in three categories depending on the method used to collect brain
signals.

Non- The sensors are placed on the scalp to measure the electrical potentials produced by
invasive the brain (EEG) or the magnetoencephalography(MEG).
Semi- The electrodes are placed on the exposed surface of the brain(Electrocorticography
invasive i.e,.ECoG)
Invasive The micro-electrodes are placed directly into the cortex, measuring the activity of a
single neuron.

The following image shows the different layers of the brain and where the signal is taken from.

Non-invasive: the EEG signal placing electrodes on the scalp, so on the most external part.

Semi-invasive: the ECoG signal is taken from electrodes placed in the dura or in the arachnoid.

Invasive: the Intraparenchymal signal is taken directly implanting electrodes in the cortex.

ELECTROMYOGRAPHY(EMG)

 To measure the electrical activity of the muscles and nerves

 Electromyography deals with the action of the motor neurons
 The electrical activity of the underlying muscle can be measured by placing surface
electrodes on the skin.
 Needle electrodes are also used that are inserted into muscles
 Action potentials of muscles occur as both positive and negative polarities at a given pair
of electrodes
 So they may add or cancel each other
 Electromyogram appears like a random noise wave form.
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1. EMG Electrode

 Surface type or needle type is used

 3 electrodes are used out of which one is a ground electrode.
 The electrodes pick up the potentials produced by the contracting muscle fibers.

2. Bioelectric amplifier

 Amplitudes of bioelectric signals is in range of millivolts to microvolts

 Bioelectric amplifier amplifies the bioelectric signals obtained from the EMG electrodes
 High gain operational amplifiers are used.

3. AF Amplifier

 Normal muscles at rest make certain normal electrical sounds

 Under abnormal conditions, sudden change in sound occurs
 AF amplifiers are used to distinguish these sounds clearly

4. Oscilloscope

 Oscilloscope displays the EMG waveform

 Abnormality in the working of nerve and muscle cells can be identified by physician by
analysing the EMG waveform

5. EMG recorder:
 To record the EMG results for future purpose

NERVE CONDUCTION VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS

 The measurement of conduction velocity in motor nerves is used to find the location
and type of the nerve damages.
 Here the nerve function is examined at the various segments of the nervee by
stimulating it with a brief electric shock.
 Eelectric shock pulse duration is 0.2 to 0.5 milliseconds.Then latencies are measured.

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 Latency is defined as the elapsed time between the stimulating impulse and the muscle’s
action potential.
 Conduction velocity in that nerve is then calculated.

6. RESPIRATORY PARAMETERS
1. Tidal Volume (TV): The volume of gas inspired or expired during normal respiration
2. Minute Volume (MV): The volume of gas exchanged per minute during normal
respiration.
3. Alveolar Ventilation (AV): The volume of fresh air entering the alveoli with each
breath.
4. Inspiratory Reserve Volume (IRV): The volume of gas, which can be inspired by a
forcible inspiration.
5. Expiratory Reserve Volume (ERV): The volume of gas, a person can expire by a
forced expiration.
6. Residual Volume: The volume of air remaining in the lungs after a forced expiration.
7. Functional Residual Capacity (FRC): The volume of air remaining in the lungs after
normal expiration.
8. Total Lung Capacity (TLC): Total volume of air that can be accommodated in the lungs
at the end of forced inspiration. TLC = VC + RV
9. Vital Capacity (VC): The greatest volume of gas that can be expired after forced
inspiration.
10. Inspiratory Capacity (IC): The maximum volume that can be inspired after normal
expiration. IC=TV+IRV
11. Expiratory capacity: Total volume of air that can be expired after normal inspiration

EC=TV+ERV

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SPIROMETER

This instrument uses a bell jar, suspended from above, in a tank of ԝwater.
An air hose leads from mouthpiece to the space inside of the bell above the ԝater level.
A ԝeight is suspended from the string that holds the bell in such a ԝay that it places a tension
force on the string that exactly balances the ԝeight of the bell at atmospheric pressure.
 Ԝhen no one is breathing into the mouthpiece, therefore, the bell ԝwill be at rest ԝith a fixed
volume above the ԝwater level.
 But ԝhen the subject exhales, the pressure inside the bell increases above atmospheric
pressure, causing the bell to rise.
 Similarly, ԝhen the patient inhales, the pressure inside the bell decreases.
 The bell ԝill rise ԝhen the pressure increases and drop ԝhen the pressure decreases.
 The change in bell pressure changes the volume inside the bell; ԝhich also causes the
position of the counterԝeight to change.
 Ԝe may record the volume changes on a piece of graph paper by attaching a pen to the
counterԝeight or tension string.
 The chart recorder is a rotatory drum model called a kymograph.
 It rotates slowly at speed between 30 and 2000 mm/min.
PNEUMOGRAPH

 An impedance pneumograph is based on the fact that the ac impedance across the chest
of a subject changes as respiration occurs.
 Figure 1 shows the block diagram for an impedance pneumograph.
 A loԝ voltage, 50 to 500 KHz ac signal is applied to the chest of the patient through
surface electrodes of the same type as used in ECG monitoring.
 In fact, many of these monitors are also ECG monitors, using a common set of electrodes
and a single pair of lead ԝires.

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Figure 1- impedance pneumograph


 High value fixed resistors connected in series ԝith each electrode create a constant ac
current source.
 The signal voltage applied to the differential ac amplifier is the voltage drop across the
resistance, representing the patient’s thoracic impedance. (figure 2)

Figure 2: Equivalent circuit-Pneumograph

SARATH KUMAR S ,AP, EEE, SNIT ADOOR