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Correlation analysis of muscle spindle responses to single motor unit contractions
1. Cross-correlation techniques have been used to study the responses of muscle spindle afferents from the soleus muscle of the cat to twitch contractions of single motor units. 2. Cross-correlograms (post-stimulus time histograms) were used to give the frequency of occurrence of a receptor spike at...
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Published in: | The Journal of physiology 1976-05, Vol.257 (2), p.325-336 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | 1. Cross-correlation techniques have been used to study the responses of muscle spindle afferents from the soleus muscle of
the cat to twitch contractions of single motor units. 2. Cross-correlograms (post-stimulus time histograms) were used to give
the frequency of occurrence of a receptor spike at various times following the initiation of a motor unit contraction together
with a display of the average twitch tension wave form. 3. The cross-correlograms revealed that the contraction of a single
motor unit can be an effective stimulus to a spindle receptor and may induce afferent firing pattern alterations similar to
those observed with whole muscle contraction. 4. The cross-correlograms also revealed quantitative differences in the response
of a receptor to contraction of different motor units and to contraction of the same motor unit at different lengths. These
differences reflect subtle changes in receptor deformation developed by the twitch of a motor unit under different conditions
and by the twitches of different motor units. The results are consistent with anatomical data on the number and distribution
of motor units and receptor organs in cat soleus. 5. These findings emphasize that rather than simply acting as generalized
force or length sensors for the muscle as a whole, each receptor's spike train carries information about the state of a particular
set of motor units. |
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ISSN: | 0022-3751 1469-7793 |
DOI: | 10.1113/jphysiol.1976.sp011371 |