Abstract
It is well known that there are large numbers of muscle spindles in human muscles involved in fine movements (Matthews, 1972). However, their spatial distribution as well as that of Golgi tendon organs has not been fully investigated. In animals the distribution of muscle spindles is related to the pattern of intramuscular nerve branching, to the proportion of aerobic or anaerobic fibers, and possibly to the presence of intramuscular tendons (Barker, 1972). We examined the 3-dimensional distribution of muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs, both singly and in relation to one another as well as their position relative to the intramuscular nerve branches, to the intramuscular tendon as well as the distal and proximal tendinous insertions and in relation to the extrafusal motor endplates. This study was carried out on the human abductor pollicis brevis.
Supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada.
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Eriksson, P-O. and Thornell, L. E., 1985, Heterogeneous intrafusal fibre composition of the human masseter muscle, in: “The Muscle Spindle”, eds. I. A. Boyd and M. H. Gladden, MacMillan Press Ltd., London, pp. 95–100.
Eriksson, P-O. and Thornell, L. E., 1987, Relation to extrafusai fibre-type composition in muscle spindle structure and location in the human masseter muscle, Archs oral Biol, 32, 483–491.
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© 1988 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Stephens, H., Chabot, L., Miron, D., Simard, T. (1988). Three-Dimensional Distribution of Muscle Spindles and Golgi Tendon Organs in the Human Abductor Pollicis Brevis. In: Hník, P., Soukup, T., Vejsada, R., Zelená, J. (eds) Mechanoreceptors. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0812-4_50
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0812-4_50
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