Reciprocal Interaction of Antagonistic Muscles in the Flexion Reflex of the Intact Hindlimb of the Decerebrate Cat (original) (raw)
Related papers
Effects of dorsolateral spinal lesions on stretch reflex threshold and stiffness in awake cats
European Journal of Neuroscience, 1999
Measurements of threshold angle and incremental dynamic stiffness (IDS) were derived from triceps surae stretch reflexes, elicited by ramp and hold flexion at the ankle joint of four cats that were tested while awake. Stretch reflexes were assessed from trials that began from different ankle joint start positions or were matched using a post-hoc analysis for initial background force during testing sessions before and following unilateral lesions of the dorsolateral funiculus at levels ranging from T13 to L3. Unilateral lesions of the dorsolateral funiculus (DLF) produced significant ipsilateral decreases in stretch reflex threshold and increases in reflex gain, measured as incremental dynamic stiffness (IDS). ANCOVA testing indicated that the reduction in threshold, but not the increase in IDS, was dependent upon the level of background force. Reflex testing from different start angles demonstrated that DLF lesions diminished the correlation between threshold and IDS. Intravenous infusion of ketamine dose-dependently reduced IDS, compared with testing in the unanaesthetized state. Postoperative reflex testing during infusion of ketamine at 22.2 mg/kg per h, when electromyographic responses were reduced to 24% of control levels, abolished differences in IDS between the ipsilateral and contralateral hindlimbs. These and related observations suggest that the postoperative increase in IDS in awake animals was not due to an increase in passive stiffness.
Effects of stimulation of hindlimb flexor group II afferents during fictive locomotion in the cat
The Journal of physiology, 1995
1. This study examines the effects of electrical stimulation of hindlimb flexor nerves on the fictive locomotion pattern. Locomotion was initiated by stimulation of the mesencephalic locomotor region in the decerebrate paralysed cat and monitored by recording the electroneurogram from selected hindlimb flexor and extensor muscle nerves. Flexor nerves were stimulated using short trains (20-50 stimuli at 100 Hz) during either the flexor or the extensor phase of the fictive locomotor cycle. 2. Stimulation of tibialis anterior (TA), posterior biceps and semitendinosus (PBSt) or sartorius (Sart) nerves at 5 times threshold (T) during the flexor phase of the fictive locomotor cycle terminated on-going activity in flexor nerves and initiated activity in extensors. Thus, flexor nerve stimulation during flexion shortened the locomotor cycle by resetting to extension. The failure of lower intensity (2T) stimulation of PBSt or Sart nerves to reset the step cycle to extension suggests that grou...
The Journal of Physiology, 2005
Reflex actions of muscle afferents in hindlimb flexor nerves were examined on ipsilateral motoneurone activity recorded in peripheral nerves during midbrain stimulation-evoked fictive locomotion and during fictive scratch in decerebrate cats. Trains of stimuli (15-30 shocks at 200 Hz) were delivered during the flexion phase at intensities sufficient to activate both group I and II afferents (5 times threshold, T). In many preparations tibialis anterior (TA) nerve stimulation terminated ongoing flexion and reset the locomotor cycle to extension (19/31 experiments) while extensor digitorum longus (EDL) stimulation increased and prolonged the ongoing flexor phase activity (20/33 preparations). The effects of sartorius, iliopsoas and peroneus longus muscle afferent stimulation were qualitatively similar to those of EDL nerve. Resetting to extension was seen only with higher intensity stimulation (5T) while ongoing flexor activity was often enhanced at group I intensity (2T) stimulation. The effects of flexor nerve stimulation were qualitatively similar during fictive scratch. Reflex reversals were consistently observed in some fictive locomotor preparations. In those cases, EDL stimulation produced a resetting to extension and TA stimulation prolonged the ongoing flexion phase. Occasionally reflex reversals occurred spontaneously during only one of several stimulus presentations. The variable and opposite actions of flexor afferents on the locomotor step cycle indicate the existence of parallel spinal reflex pathways. A hypothetical organization of reflex pathways from flexor muscle afferents to the spinal pattern generator networks with competing actions of group I and group II afferents on the flexor and extensor portions of this central circuitry is proposed.
Post-activation depression of soleus stretch reflexes in healthy and spastic humans
Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Expérimentation cérébrale, 2008
Reduced depression of transmitter release from Ia afferents following previous activation (post-activation depression) has been suggested to be involved in the pathophysiology of spasticity. However, the effect of this mechanism on the myotatic reflex and its possible contribution to increased reflex excitability in spastic participants has not been tested. To investigate these effects, we examined post-activation depression in Soleus H-reflex responses and in mechanically evoked Soleus stretch reflex responses. Stretch reflex responses were evoked with consecutive dorsiflexion perturbations delivered at different intervals. The magnitude of the stretch reflex and ankle torque response was assessed as a function of the time between perturbations. Soleus stretch reflexes were evoked with constant velocity (175°/s) and amplitude (6°) plantar flexion perturbations. Soleus H-reflexes were evoked by electrical stimulation of the tibial nerve in the popliteal fossa. The stretch reflex and H-reflex responses of 30 spastic participants (with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury) were compared with those of 15 healthy participants. In the healthy participants, the magnitude of the soleus stretch reflex and H-reflex decreased as the interval between the stimulus/perturbation was decreased. Similarly, the stretch-evoked torque decreased. In the spastic participants, the post-activation depression of both reflexes and the stretch-evoked torque was significantly smaller than in healthy participants. These findings demonstrate that post-activation depression is an important factor in the evaluation of stretch reflex excitability and muscle stiffness in spasticity, and they strengthen the hypothesis that reduced post-activation depression plays a role in the pathophysiology of spasticity.
Kinesiological Studies of Self- and Cross-Reinnervated FDL and Soleus Muscles in Freely Moving Cats
Journal of Neurophysiology
The activity patterns in self- and cross-reinnervated flexor digitorum longus (FDL) and soleus (SOL) muscles were examined during natural movements in awake, unrestrained cats in which electromyographic (EMG) electrodes, tendon-force gauges, and muscle-length gauges had been chronically implanted under anesthesia and aseptic conditions. Kinesiological data were recorded between 13 and 22 mo after nerve surgery. Self-reinnervated FDL and SOL muscles (i.e., FDL----FDL and SOL----SOL, respectively) exhibited locomotor activity patterns that were the same as observed in normal, unoperated FDL and SOL muscles (26). FDL----FDL muscles exhibited primarily brief bursts of activity in early swing, just after the toes had left the ground, whereas SOL----SOL muscles showed bursts of activity just before and during stance. In contrast, the cross-reinnervated muscles (both SOL----FDL and FDL----SOL) that had little or no unwanted self-reinnervation showed the patterns of activity that are associ...
Experimental Brain Research, 1992
Low-threshold, short-latency cutaneous reflexes evoked in ipsilateral hindlimb motor nerves were examined during fictive locomotion. Locomotion in 11 anaemically decerebrated spinal animals (1-3 weeks after transection at T13-L1) was induced by administration of clonidine, L-dopa and nialamide; by administration of the latter two drugs only; or by exteroceptive stimulation in the absence of any drugs. The caudal and lateral cutaneous sural, caudal cutaneous femoral, saphenous and superficial peroneal nerves were stimulated at low threshold (1.5-3 T). Pooled results from all combinations of cutaneous nerves stimulated and muscle nerves recorded show that the initial response was excitatory in 40 of 50 triceps surae and 17 of 20 semitendinosus (St) electroneurograms (ENGs). These excitatory responses occurred at latencies that ranged from 5 to 15 ms and tended to be maximal during the motor nerve's active period in the step cycle (i.e. they were modulated in a phase-dependent manner). Only three inhibitory responses (9-12 ms earliest latency) were encountered in total: in two St ENGs of one animal and in one lateral gastrocnemius-soleus ENG of a different animal. In two animals a "second" excitatory response (15-25 ms latency) was sometimes recorded in triceps surae and St nerves and, interestingly, could be modulated out of phase with the early response. Weak short-latency excitatory reflexes were also found in contralateral St ENGs when examined. Finally, among medial gastrocnemius, lateral gastrocnemius and soleus nerves, excitatory responses due to stimulation of any particular cutaneous nerve tended to be modulated similarly but were of consistently different amplitude among the three. This finding, together with the general observation that excitatory reflexes produced by stimulation of a particular cutaneous nerve were modulated similarly in extensors (or flexors) of different animals, suggests that spinal circuits generating locomotion may indeed exert a stereotypic control over interneurons in specific cutaneous reflex pathways to motoneurons. The results are primarily discussed in Correspondence to: S. Rossignol terms of the existing evidence for short-latency excitatory cutaneous reflexes in extensors in a variety of locomotive and non-locomotive preparations.
Absence of force-feedback regulation in soleus muscle of the decerebrate cat
Brain Research, 1980
Electrical stimulation of muscle nerves at a strength sufficient to activate Ib fibers induces inhibitory post-synaptic potentials (IPSPs) in homonymous extensor motoneurons ~. This finding implies that natural activation of tendon organs, which occurs readily with increasing muscle force1, 5 might also produce autogenetic inhibition, contributing negative force-feedback to the homonymous motoneuron pool. There have been relatively few attempts to evaluate the magnitude of this forcefeedback effect under physiologically relevant conditions. The most detailed study is that of Houk, Singer and Goldman 6, who used stimulation of small ventral root filaments in the decerebrate cat preparation to augment soleus muscle force, and increase the magnitude of force-related inhibition. They calculated that the gain of the force-feedback pathway was relatively small (approximately 0.5) but still of sufficient magnitude to augment muscle force in the face of fatigue or other loss of muscle contractility. However, the calculated gain of the force-feedback pathway was also influenced by a contribution from spindle receptors, which would have reduced their discharge in response to the spindle shortening that accompanied increasing isometric force. This shortening results from extension of series compliant elements, (predominantly the muscle tendon and its attachments), and it may have been quite marked in some spindles because of the uneven muscle activation induced by stimulation of small ventral root filaments. The relative contributions of tendon organ versus spindle receptor force-feedback were therefore difficult to dissociate with precision.