The findings of this study improve our understanding of the neural pathways mediating the LLSR and may inform the development of treatments following stroke. Methods Participants Nine right-handed adults (four female, five male) aged 18–25 with no history of neurological impairment participated in the experiment. All participants were screened to ensure that they did not have

any contraindications to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and all were determined to be right handed by scoring >40 on the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Oldfield 1971). Prior to their involvement in the experiment, each participant was informed about the techniques to be employed during the experiment verbally and in writing, before signing a consent form. All informed consent procedures were approved by the

University of Otago Human Ethics Committee and were consistent with the Declaration of Helsinki. Apparatus Participants were seated comfortably Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical facing a visual display monitor with their nondominant (left) forearm placed in a custom orthopedic restraint and secured with Velcro straps (Fig. 1A). Their nondominant Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical forearm was held in a neutral position between maximum pronation and supination with the interior elbow angle at 90°. Wrist perturbations were applied by a custom-designed lever system attached to a servomotor, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the rotational axis of which was Selleck INCB024360 positioned

directly below the flexion/extension axis of wrist rotation. Custom computer software was used to control the characteristics of each perturbation (timing, duration, and amplitude) and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the timing of each TMS pulse (Fig. 1B). The same software provided visual feedback to indicate the nature of the task (current and target forces/positions) and triggered auditory tones at quasirandom intervals during each trial designed to mask the sound of TMS discharge. The servomotor was instrumented with a potentiometer to provide position information and was configured during the appropriate portions of the study as either a stiff velocity and position servo (8.46 Nm resistance to movement) Chlormezanone or a compliant load easily moved by the subject (0.53 Nm resistance to movement). These different mechanical environments were implemented using an admittance control algorithm implemented in Visual Basic. Perturbations were identically matched in each mechanical environment. Figure 1 (A) Participantsx’ forearms were placed in rests with their hand in a contoured holder connected to the servomotor. An LCD screen provided visual feedback of wrist torque and displacement.