Orbicularis oculi muscle activities by analyzing dog's electroneurogram

Objective To monitor the activities of orbicularis oculi muscle by analyzing the electroneurogram (ENG) of its innervating nerve. Methods The ENG was recorded in vivo by a cuff electrode implanted around a dog’s zygomatic branch of facial nerve. The differences between the ENG during relaxing period of the orbicularis oculi muscle and during the constricting period were analyzed to explore a way to monitor the muscle activities. Results The ENG signals indicating occurrences of eye blinking events were extracted in the study. Time-frequency analysis showed that there was no ENG difference when the orbicularis oculi muscle was in relaxing periods no mater whether it was in the nature eye-opening period or in the interval of eye blinking. The ENG of orbicularis oculi muscle in constricting period was different from the ENG in relaxing period at amplitude and frequency. Conclusion It is feasible to monitor the orbicularis oculi muscle activities by ENG analysis.