JN Fuel your research with LabChart
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

J Neurophysiol 64: 671-679, 1990;
0022-3077/90 $5.00
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Aniss, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Gandevia, S. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Aniss, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Gandevia, S. C.

Journal of Neurophysiology, Vol 64, Issue 2 671-679, Copyright © 1990 by APS

ARTICLES

Reflex activation of muscle spindles in human pretibial muscles during standing

A. M. Aniss, H. C. Diener, J. Hore, D. Burke and S. C. Gandevia
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Prince Henry Hospital, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

1. Experiments were performed in standing subjects to determine whether low-threshold cutaneous and muscle afferents from mechanoreceptors in the human foot reflexly influence fusimotor neurons innervating pretibial flexor muscles. Recordings were made from 30 identified muscle-spindle afferents, four tendon-organ afferents, and one alpha-motor axon innervating the pretibial flexor muscles. The subjects stood without support or vision on a force platform while trains of electrical stimuli (5 stimuli, 300 Hz) were delivered at nonpainful intensities to the sural nerve or to the posterior tibial nerve at the ankle. 2. Seventeen of the 30 spindle endings had no background discharge, and none was activated by the sural or posterior tibial stimuli. Five silent afferents were given a background discharge by sustained pressure on the relevant tendon, but with two the discharge was dominated by a tremor rhythm obscuring any reflex response to the stimuli. Based on peristimulus time histograms (PSTHs), the sural stimuli then produced increases in discharge of two of the remaining three endings at latencies of 84 and 90 ms. These effects could not be explained by muscle stretch and are presumed to have been fusimotor mediated. 3. When the subjects stood freely without support or vision, 13 muscle-spindle endings had a background discharge, but with three endings tremor developed at the ankle and dominated the spindle discharge. Sural stimuli affected the discharge of five of nine endings unaffected by tremor. With three of these endings, there were changes in discharge that could be explained by muscle stretch.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
E. V. Lamont and E. P. Zehr
Earth-Referenced Handrail Contact Facilitates Interlimb Cutaneous Reflexes During Locomotion
J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2007; 98(1): 433 - 442.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
G. Mochizuki, T. D. Ivanova, and S. J. Garland
Factors Affecting the Common Modulation of Bilateral Motor Unit Discharge in Human Soleus Muscles
J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2007; 97(6): 3917 - 3925.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Appl. Physiol.Home page
K. S. Maluf and R. M. Enoka
Task failure during fatiguing contractions performed by humans
J Appl Physiol, August 1, 2005; 99(2): 389 - 396.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BrainHome page
L. R. Wilson, S. C. Gandevia, J. T. Inglis, J.-M. Gracies, and D. Burke
Muscle spindle activity in the affected upper limb after a unilateral stroke
Brain, November 1, 1999; 122(11): 2079 - 2088.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Visit Other APS Journals Online