1996; Kakigi et al. 2000; Inui et al. 2004) or skin (Inui et al. 2003) and by mechanical stimulation, for example, air puff (Karageorgiou et al. 2008), brush (Jousmaki et al. 2007), or mechanical tapping applied to the skin (Hadoush et al. 2010; Onishi et al. 2010), have been investigated in great detail. The major activation induced by electrical or mechanical stimulation to the skin is observed in area 3b of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), reflecting cutaneous afferents (e.g., Hari and Kaukoranta 1985; Nakasato et al. 1996; Kakigi et al. 2000). Furthermore,

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical many investigators have reported movement-related cortical magnetic fields (MRCFs) following Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical active movement. Neuromagnetic fields over the hemisphere contralateral to the side of the movement change immediately after voluntary movement and are known as movement-evoked magnetic fields (MEFs); these fields are proposed to reflect sensory feedback to the cortex from the periphery. The earliest of these magnetic fields, MEF1, occurs approximately 80–110 msec after the onset of electromyographic (EMG) activity

or 20–40 msec after movement onset (Cheyne and Weinberg 1989; Cheyne et al. 1991, 1997, 2006; Kristeva-Feige et al. 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997; Nagamine et al. 1994; Hoshiyama et al. 1997a; Woldag et al. 2003; Oishi et al. 2004; Onishi et al. 2006, 2011). However, there have been a few studies Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical regarding SEF accompanying Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical passive movement (PM) using MEG systems. Xiang et al.

(1997) demonstrated the recording of four SEF components after the onset of passive finger movement. The peak latencies of these components were 20, 46, 70, and 119 msec after movement onset. Several researchers indicated that the large component after PM was of long duration with two peaks from 30 to 100 msec after movement onset (Lange et al. 2001; Alary et al. 2002; Druschky et al. 2003). The equivalent current dipoles (ECDs) of these two components were located in area 3b (Alary et al. 2002), area 4 (Druschky et al. 2003), and areas 3b and 4 (Xiang et al. 1997; Lange Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical et al. 2001). Thus, two components were observed from 30 almost to 100 msec after PM, and the magnetic NVP-BGJ398 price waveforms with two peaks following PM were different from the waveforms, with one component following active movement. In contrast, Woldag et al. (2003) reported that the cortical activation patterns and source localizations in active and passive movements were almost identical to those observed in a PET study (Weiller et al. 1996). Previous PET and fMRI studies have proposed that PM activates an extensive cortical sensorimotor area, for example, the contralateral primary sensorimotor area, supplementary motor area (SMA), posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and bilateral secondary somatosensory areas (S2) (Mima et al. 1996, 1999b; Weiller et al. 1996; Alary et al. 1998; Radovanovic et al. 2002; Albanese et al. 2009).