Abstract
This investigation was designed to study the effects of post-activation depression in different spinal pathways fed by group I afferents available to investigation in human subjects. It was precipitated by a recent investigation in the cat showing that—contrary to the general assumption—post-activation depression is not a widespread phenomenon in the spinal cord. In 24 healthy subjects comparison was made between the effects of low and high-test stimulus rates on the monosynaptic Ia excitation, known to be subject to post-activation depression, and on oligosynaptic pathways fed by group I afferents. Both the amplitude of monosynaptic H reflexes and the amount of heteronymous monosynaptic Ia facilitation were significantly smaller at high than at low-test stimulus rates (1–2 s compared with 6–8 s between two consecutive stimuli). So was the amount of reciprocal Ia inhibition of tibialis anterior motoneurones. In contrast, the amount of other non-monosynaptic group I effects directed to the same motor nuclei (peroneal-induced excitation of quadriceps motoneurones, disynaptic non-reciprocal group I inhibition of flexor carpi radialis motoneurones, and D1 inhibition of flexor carpi radialis and soleus H reflexes) were enhanced at high stimulus rates. Results in humans confirm that post-activation depression depends on the type of group I afferents, and/or on the target neurones. The functional significance of the discrepancy between post-activation depression in pure Ia pathways and in other group I pathways is discussed with regard to the fusimotor-driven servo-assistance from Ia afferent discharges.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their gratitude to Professors E. Pierrot-Deseilligny and D. Burke for reading and commenting upon the manuscript. Our thanks are also due to M. Dodo for her unfailing assistance during the course of the experiments and G. Bard for typing the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from AP-HP, INSERM and MESR (U731 INSERM/UPMC), IRME and Institut Garches.
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Lamy, J.C., Wargon, I., Baret, M. et al. Post-activation depression in various group I spinal pathways in humans. Exp Brain Res 166, 248–262 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-2360-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-2360-4