• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.26-30
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• 1999

Background : The origin of P300 was still on debate nbut thought to be in the frontal, temporal or parietal lobe. As the transcranial doppler ultrasonography(TCD) gives us and opportunity to observe hemodynamic chaged dynamically and the middle cerebral artery feeds these ares of the hemisphere, we observed the change of mean flow velocity of MCA during the event related potential test(ERP) to determine the role of these structures in P300 generation. Method : Twenty normal subjects(male : 13, age : 24-29 years) performed ERP. An auditory oddball pardigm was used to elicit the ERPs. TCD examination was performed with 2-MHz probe monitoring the left MCA(Transscan, EME). After signal identification and adjustments to maximize the Doppler signal strength, the probe was mechanically locked during the monitoring. The changes of blood flow velocity of the left middle cerebral artery(MCA) induced by cognitive demands were monitored. The measurement of the meal flow velocities(MFV) of MCA were made while the subjects were prior to, during, and after ERP. We recorded the MFVs during ERP. Statistical analysis was performed using t-tests with SPSS-PC for windows release 6.0. Results : All subjects showed a relative increase in MFV of MCA during the task. The mean rise was about 3.2-4.2%(p <0.05). Although TCD does not measure absolute values of regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF) or absolute rCBF changes, changes of flow velocity can reflect relative rCBF changes. Conclusions : The generation site of P300 still remains unclear but the neocortical, thalamic and limbic region and temporal-parietal cortex have been proposed. The MCA supplies these anatomical structures. The Changes of flow veolocity of MCA during the ERP test suggest that the some part of the brain fed y the MCA activate of the temporal lobe or parietal lobes, we can deduce that some parts of brain fed by the MCA participate in the generation of P300.