scholarly journals Crosstalk proposal: There is much to gain from the independent control of human muscle spindles

Author(s):  
Michael Dimitriou
2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 452-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughan G. Macefield ◽  
Thomas P. Knellwolf

Muscle spindles are ubiquitous encapsulated mechanoreceptors found in most mammalian muscles. There are two types of endings, primary and secondary, and both are sensitive to changes in muscle length and velocity, with the primary endings having a greater dynamic sensitivity. Unlike other mechanoreceptors in the somatosensory system, muscle spindles are unique in possessing motor innervation, via γ-motoneurons (fusimotor neurons), that control their sensitivity to stretch. Much of what we know about human muscles spindles comes from studying the behavior of their afferents via intraneural microelectrodes (microneurography) inserted into accessible peripheral nerves. We review the functional properties of human muscle spindles, comparing and contrasting with what we know about the functions of muscle spindles studied in experimental animals. As in the cat, many human muscle spindles possess a background discharge that is related to the degree of muscle stretch, but mean firing rates are much lower (~10 Hz). They can faithfully encode changes in muscle fascicle length in passive conditions, but higher level extraction of information is required by the central nervous system to measure changes in muscle length during muscle contraction. Moreover, although there is some evidence supporting independent control of human muscle spindles via fusimotor neurons, any effects are modest compared with the clearly independent control of fusimotor neurons observed in the cat.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 1763-1767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Dimitriou ◽  
Benoni B. Edin
Keyword(s):  

1991 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. A. AL-FALAHE ◽  
M. NAGAOKA ◽  
A. B. VALLBO

Neurology ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 463-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. R. Kennedy

2015 ◽  
Vol 226 (6) ◽  
pp. 542-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Radovanovic ◽  
Kevin Peikert ◽  
Mona Lindström ◽  
Fatima Pedrosa Domellöf

1975 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 675-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Kennedy ◽  
Henry deF Webster ◽  
Kwon Sang Yoon

1995 ◽  
Vol 198 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Pedrosa-Domellöf ◽  
Ismo Virtanen ◽  
Lars-Eric Thornell

1974 ◽  
Vol 179 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Kennedy ◽  
Richard E. Poppele ◽  
Nancy A. Staley

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document