Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Patterns of parallel signal transmission between multiple alpha efferents and multiple Ia afferents in the cat semitendinosus muscle

  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

  1. 1.

    Certain features of signal transmission from multiple α-axons to multiple Ia fibres via extrafusal muscle tissue were studied by stimulating three ventral root filaments separately and simultaneously and by recording spike trains from three dorsal root filaments.

  2. 2.

    Post-stimulus time histograms (PSTH) revealed widely graded influences of single motor unit contractions on different muscle spindles, thus confirming results of Binder et al. (1976, 1980a).

  3. 3.

    In most instances, the signal transmission from a single motor unit to a single Ia fibre was disturbed to varying degrees by concomitant activity from other motor units.

  4. 4.

    This deterioration of signal transmission can probably be compensated for, at least in part, by correlations between discharge patterns of two or more Ia fibres induced by the “common input” of motor unit activity.

  5. 5.

    These correlations showed a topographical pattern such that a peak in the cross-correlogram (CCH) occurred at zero time for pairs of spindles located virtually in parallel to each other, and was shifted away from zero time as a function of the serial distance between spindles in the longitudinal muscle fibre direction.

  6. 6.

    Fusimotor innervation had complex effects on correlations between Ia fibre discharge patterns. It might de-correlate the latter as well as favour new correlations.

  7. 7.

    The possible role of topographical correlation patterns in the afferent reflex limb for tremor suppression is discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allum JHJ, Dietz V, Freund HJ (1978) Neuronal mechanisms underlying physiological tremor. J Neurophysiol 41: 557–571

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barker D, Emonet-Dénand F, Harker DW, Jami L, Laporte Y (1977) Types of intra- and extrafusal muscle fibre innervated by dynamic skeleto-fusimotor axons in cat peroneus brevis and tenuissimus muscles, as determined by the glycogen-depletion method. J Physiol (Lond) 266: 713–726

    Google Scholar 

  • Bessou P, Laporte Y, Pagés B (1968) Frequencygrams of spindle primary endings elicited by stimulation of static and dynamic fusimotor fibres. J Physiol (Lond) 196: 47–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Binder MD, Kroin JS, Moore GP, Stauffer EK, Stuart DG (1976) Correlation analysis of muscle spindle responses to single motor unit contractions. J Physiol (Lond) 257: 325–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Binder MD, Stuart DG (1980a) Responses of Ia and spindle group II afferents to single motor-unit contractions. I Neurophysiol 43: 621–629

    Google Scholar 

  • Binder MD, Stuart DG (1980b) Motor unit-muscle receptors interactions: Design features of the neuromuscular control system. In: Desmedt JE (ed) Spinal and supraspinal mechanisms of voluntary motor control and locomotion. Karger, Basel München Paris London New York Sydney (Progress in clinical neurophysiology, vol 8, pp 72–98)

    Google Scholar 

  • Botterman BR, Binder MD, Stuart DG (1978) Functional anatomy of the association between motor units and muscle receptors. Am Zool 18: 135–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks VB, Wilson VJ (1958) Localization of stretch reflexes by recurrent inhibition. Science 127: 472–473

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks VB, Wilson VJ (1959) Recurrent inhibition in the cat's spinal cord. J Physiol (Lond) 146: 380–391

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant HL, Ruiz-Marcos A, Segundo JP (1973) Correlations of neuronal spike discharges produced by monosynaptic connections and by common inputs. J Neurophysiol 36: 205–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Chin NK, Cope M, Pang M (1962) Number and distribution of spindle capsules in seven hindlimb muscles of the cat. In: Barker D (ed) Symposium on muscle receptors. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, pp 241–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen LA (1953) Localization of stretch reflex. J Neurophysiol 16: 272–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen LA (1954) Organization of stretch reflex into two types of direct spinal arcs. J Neurophysiol 17: 443–453

    Google Scholar 

  • Cussons PD, Matthews PBC, Muir RB (1979) Tremor in the tension developed isometrically by soleus during the tonic vibration reflex in the decerebrate cat. J Physiol (Lond) 292: 35–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Desmedt JE (1978) Physiological tremor, pathological tremors and clonus. Karger, Basel München Paris London New York Sydney (Progress in clinical neurophysiology, vol 5)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz V, Bischofberger E, Wita C, Freund H-J (1976) Correlation between the discharges of two simultaneously recorded motor units and physiological tremor. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 40: 97–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellaway PH, Furness P (1977) Increased probability of muscle spindle firing time-locked to the electrocardiogram in rabbits. J Physiol (Lond) 273: 92

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellaway PH, Furness P, Murphy PR (1979) Spindle and motor unit discharges correlated with the heart beat. Neurosci Lett [Suppl] 3: 96

    Google Scholar 

  • Emonet-Dénand F, Jami L, Laporte Y (1980) Histophysiological observations on the skeleto-fusimotor innervation on mammalian spindles. In: Desmedt JE (ed) Spinal and supraspinal mechanisms of voluntary motor control and locomotion. Karger, Basel München Paris London New York Sydney (Progress in clinical neurophysiology, vol 8, pp 1–11)

    Google Scholar 

  • Emonet-Dénand E, Laporte Y (1975) Proportion of muscle spindles supplied by skeleto-fusimotor axons (β-axons) in peroneus brevis muscle of the cat. J Neurophysiol 38: 1390–1394

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin GM, Hoffman D, Luschei ES (1978) The strength of the reflex response to sinusoidal stretch of monkey jaw closing muscles during voluntary contraction. J Physiol (Lond) 279: 81–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Granit R, Pompeiano O, Waltman B (1959) The early discharge of mammalian muscle spindles at the onset of contraction. J Physiol (Lond) 147: 399–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagbarth K-E, Young RR (1979) Participation of the stretch reflex in human physiological tremor. Brain 102: 509–526

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliday AM, Redfearn JWT (1956) An analysis of the frequencies of finger tremor in healthy subjects. J Physiol (Lond) 134: 600–611

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulliger M (1979) The responses of primary spindle afferents to fusimotor stimulation at constant and abruptly changing rates. J Physiol (Lond) 294: 461–482

    Google Scholar 

  • Inbar G, Madrid J, Rudomín P (1979) The influence of the gamma system on cross-correlated activity of Ia muscle spindles and its relation to information transmission. Neurosci Lett 13: 73–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Joyce GC, Rack PMH (1974) The effects of load and force on tremor at the elbow joint. J Physiol (Lond) 240: 375–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Koehler W, Windhorst U (1980) Multi-loop representation of the segmental muscle stretch reflex. Its risk of instability. Biol Cybernetics 38: 51–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Laporte Y, Emonet-Dénand F (1976) The skeleto-fusimotor innervation of cat muscle spindle. In: Homma S (ed) Understanding the stretch reflex. Elsevier, Amsterdam Oxford New York (Progress in brain research, vol 44, pp 99–106)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lippold OCJ (1970) Oscillation in the stretch reflex arc and the origin of the rhythmical, 8–12 c/s component of physiological tremor. J Physiol (Lond) 206: 359–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Lüscher HR, Ruenzel P, Fetz E, Henneman E (1980) Postsynaptic population potentials recorded from ventral roots perfused with isotonic sucrose: connections of groups Ia and II spindle afferent fibers with large populations of motoneurones. J Neurophysiol 42: 1146–1164

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson SG, Mendell LM (1978) Projection of single knee flexor Ia fibers to homonymous and heteronymous motoneurons. J Neurophysiol 41: 778–787

    Google Scholar 

  • Perkel DH, Gerstein GL, Moore GP (1967) Neuronal spike trains and stochastic point processes. I. The single spike train. Biophys J 7: 391–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Rack PMH (1978) Mechanical and reflex factors in human tremor. In: Desmedt JE (ed) Physiological tremor, pathological tremors and clonus. Karger, Basel München Paris London New York Sydney (Progress in clinical neurophysiology, vol 5, pp 17–27)

    Google Scholar 

  • Richmond FJR, Abrahams VC (1979) Physiological properties of muscle spindles in dorsal neck muscles of the cat. J Neurophysiol 42: 604–617

    Google Scholar 

  • Robrecht D (1971) Untersuchungen an primären Muskelspindelafferenzen aus dem M. extensor digitorum longus der Katze. Ihr Verhalten bei Dehnung und Kontraktion in Abhängigkeit von der Lage der Rezeptoren im extrafusalen Muskelgefüge. Med Diss Göttingen

  • Rutledge LT, Haase J (1961) Flexor muscle spindles and reflex-firing of early discharging units. J Neurophysiol 24: 182–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwestka R, Windhorst U, Schaumberg R (1979) Interaction between several motor units and several muscle spindle afferents in the cat semitendinosus muscle. Pflügers Arch 382: R36

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein RB, Oğuztöreli MN (1976) Does the velocity sensitivity of muscle spindles stabilize the stretch reflex? Biol Cybernetics 23: 219–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein RB, Oğuztöreli MN (1978) Reflex involvement in the generation and control of tremor and clonus. In: Desmedt JE (ed) Physiological tremor, pathological tremors and clonus. Karger, Basel München Paris London New York Sydney (Progress in clinical neurophysiology, vol 5, pp 28–50)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles RN (1976) Frequency and displacement amplitude relations for normal hand tremor. J Appl Physiol 40: 44–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles RN (1980) Mechanical and neural feedback factors in postural hand tremor of normal subjects. J Neurophysiol 44: 40–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles RN, Pozos RS (1976) A mechanical-reflex oscillator hypothesis for parkinsonian hand tremor. J Appl Physiol 40: 990–998

    Google Scholar 

  • Windhorst U (1977a) A simple method of cross-correlating spike trains demonstrated on primary muscle spindle ending discharges. Neurosci Lett 5: 57–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Windhorst U (1977b) Cross-correlations between discharge patterns of primary muscle spindle endings in active triceps-surae muscles of the cat. Neurosci Lett 5: 63–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Windhorst U (1978a) Origin and nature of correlations in the Ia feedback pathway of the muscle control system. Biol Cybernetics 31: 71–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Windhorst U (1978b) Considerations on mechanisms of focussed signal transmission in the multi-channel muscle stretch reflex system. Biol Cybernetics 31: 81–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Windhorst U (1979a) Auxiliary spinal networks for signal focussing in the segmental stretch reflex system. Biol Cybernetics 34: 125–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Windhorst U (1979b) A possible partitioning of segmental muscle stretch reflex into incompletely de-coupled parallel loops. Biol Cybernetics 34: 205–213

    Google Scholar 

  • Windhorst U, Meyer-Lohmann J (1977) The influence of extrafusal muscle activity on discharge patterns of primary muscle spindle endings. Pflügers Arch 372: 131–138

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiologisches Institut der Universität, Lehrstuhl II, Universität Göttingen, Humboldtallee 7, D-3400, Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany

    R. Schwestka,  U. Windhorst & R. Schaumberg

Authors
  1. R. Schwestka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. U. Windhorst
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. R. Schaumberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 33: “Nervensystem und biologische Information”, Göttingen)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schwestka, R., Windhorst, U. & Schaumberg, R. Patterns of parallel signal transmission between multiple alpha efferents and multiple Ia afferents in the cat semitendinosus muscle. Exp Brain Res 43, 34–46 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238807

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238807

Key words

Search

Navigation