At any moment, each of these specialized brain neurons might be receiving multiple messages from multiple sources, but is only selectively responding to certain information about the timing or frequency of the impulses it is receiving. Related Stories.
Methods for measuring sympathetic nervous system activity. Heart rate variability (HRV), the beat-to-beat variation in heart rate, is an indirect method of measuring autonomic nervous system activity, with contributions from both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.ine electrodes are used to record 'bursts' of activity from multiple or single afferent and efferent nerve axons in the skin and muscle. The common peroneal nerve is typically chosen for this method (because it is easily accessible) and measures the efferent postganglionic muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA).
The autonomic regulation of skeletal muscle blood flow is dominated by the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. A rich adventitial plexus of sympathetic nerve fibers surrounds feed arteries and extends throughout the arteriolar network, including its terminal branches (26, 31, 50).ctivation of skeletal muscle fibers by somatic nerves results in vasodilation and functional hyperemia. Sympathetic nerve activity is integral to vasoconstriction and the maintenance of arterial blood pressure.