Summary
This article reviews experiments which have been carried out in decerebrated and in spinal cats to determine the action of muscle afferents on the discharge of gamma motoneurons.
Single tonically firing gamma motoneurons were isolated in teased filaments of muscle nerve fascicles leaving much of the afferent nerve supply to the muscle intact.
Selective activation of primary endings of muscle spindles by brief stretch or vibration gave autogenetic facilitation of approximately half of the triceps surae (GS) gamma motoneurons studied. The central delay of this facilitation (5–14 msec) precludes any monosynaptic connection. Reciprocal Ia inhibition of antagonist gamma motoneurons was not evident.
Inhibition of gamma motoneurons was elicited by twitch contractions of GS and flexor digitorum longus (FDL) muscles. The inhibition could be ascribed to discharges elicited in Ib afferents from tendon organs. It had a short central delay comparable with that of the Ib pathway to alpha motoneurons. The inhibition had a particularly strong autogenetic component and was less evident between synergists (GS and FDL). Spinal section produced a marked potentiation of the inhibition.
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Ellaway, P.H., Murphy, P.R., Trott, J.R. (1981). Autogenetic effects from spindle primary endings and tendon organs on the discharge of gamma motoneurons in the cat. In: Taylor, A., Prochazka, A. (eds) Muscle Receptors and Movement. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06022-1_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06022-1_15
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