Monosynaptic and oligosynaptic contributions to human ankle jerk and H-reflex

Burke, Darren; Gandevia, Simon C.; McKeon, Brian

doi:10.1152/jn.1984.52.3.435

Cited by 333 publications

(178 citation statements)

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“…It has also been concluded on the basis of latency that the stretch reflex in the adult human subject has an initial monosynaptic component (Burke, Gandevia & McKeon, 1984). In the present study the estimated central delay for the stretch reflex at all ages was similar to, or shorter than, those in adults, with 540 DEVELOPMENT OF PHASIC STRETCH REFLEX the implication that the early component of the phasic stretch reflex is monosynaptic during development.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Radiation of phasic stretch reflex in biceps brachii to muscles of the arm in man and its restriction during development.

O’Sullivan

Eyre

Miller

1991

The Journal of Physiology

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SUMMARY1. The phasic stretch reflex in biceps brachii has been recorded in 372 normal subjects aged from 31 weeks gestation to 55 years. The stimulus used was a brief mechanical pulse delivered by a hand-held electromagnetic vibrator and the response was measured in the surface electromyogram.2. The threshold for eliciting the reflex was low in the newborn and increased over the first 6 years to values corresponding to those of adults.3. On the basis of timing it is concluded that the phasic stretch reflex has a monosynaptic component at all ages.4. The surface electromyogram was also recorded in triceps brachii, pectoralis major, deltoid and hypothenar muscles. In some subjects evoking the phasic stretch reflex in biceps brachii resulted in short latency responses in these muscles, a phenomenon termed radiated response.5. The probability of occurrence of radiated responses and their magnitudes were greatest at birth and decreased over 2-4 years.6. Experiments were performed to determine how far mechanical transmission of the stimulus to biceps through the tissues of the arm might account for the radiated responses in the other muscles studied. It was concluded that the responses observed in triceps brachii, pectoralis major, deltoid and hypothenar muscles, following vibration of the biceps tendon, are primarily due to the radiation of the activity carried in biceps muscle afferents to the a-motoneurones of the respective muscles.7. On the basis of timing it is concluded that in subjects below 2 years the radiated responses in the muscles studied have a monosynaptic component.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Radiation of phasic stretch reflex in biceps brachii to muscles of the arm in man and its restriction during development.

O’Sullivan

Eyre

Miller

1991

The Journal of Physiology

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“…2G and H). Since it has been claimed that oligosynaptic group I excitatory pathways may also contribute to the peak of increased firing probability in the PSTH (Burke, Gandevia & McKeon, 1984) it should be noticed that the depression of the peak in the PSTH of the soleus motor unit (but not the medial gastrocnemius motor unit) was seen already for the first bin. At this early latency the facilitation can only be caused by the Ia monosynaptic EPSP.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The regulation of presynaptic inhibition during co‐contraction of antagonistic muscles in man.

Nielsen¹,

Kagamihara²

1993

The Journal of Physiology

215

144

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SUMMARY1. The size of the soleus, tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius H reflexes were measured at different levels of EMG activity in ankle plantar-and dorsiflexors. At similar levels of EMG activity in the agonist muscle, the soleus and tibialis anterior H reflexes were found to be smaller during co-contraction than during an isolated agonist contraction. In contrast to this, the medial gastrocnemius H reflex had the same size during co-contraction as during an isolated plantarflexion at comparable EMG levels.2. Peaks occurred at monosynaptic reflex latency in the post-stimulus time histogram (PSTH) of firing of soleus and tibialis anterior motor units following stimulation of their respective motor nerves. These homonymous Ia peaks were found to be smaller during co-contraction than during isolated agonist contraction, whereas that of medial gastrocnemius motor units was unchanged. As the monosynaptic peak in the PSTH may give an indirect measure of the size of the monosynaptic EPSP in the motoneurone, it is suggested that these findings reflect a differential control of presynaptic inhibition of soleus and tibialis anterior motor units with respect to medial gastrocnemius motor units.3. The monosynaptic Ia facilitation of the soleus H reflex evoked by a stimulation of the femoral nerve, was also found to be smaller during cocontraction of tibialis anterior and soleus than during isolated plantarflexion. This suggests that presynaptic inhibition of heteronymous I a fibres from the quadriceps muscle projecting to soleus motoneurones is regulated in the same way as presynaptic inhibition of homonymous I a fibres during co-contraction.4. The femoral nerve-induced monosynaptic facilitation of the soleus H reflex was found to decrease with increasing tonic levels of both co-contraction and isolated dorsi-and plantarflexion. The amount of facilitation decreased to the same degree with increasing levels of dorsiflexion and co-contraction. For the same level of EMG in the dorsiflexors there was thus no difference in the amount of facilitation whether the dorsiflexors were activated separately or in a co-contraction.

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“…Reflex facilitation is likely to affect the motoneurons that were just recruited in the control reflex or that just failed to discharge (Pierrot-Deseilligny and Mazevet 2000). These motoneurons receive also oligosynaptic excitatory inputs (Burke et al 1984). Given the uniform reflex facilitation observed in all hip angles following different types of conditioning stimulation, and that reflex modulation during hip angle changes coincides with shifts in reflex latency (Knikou and Rymer 2002b), there is a theoretical possibility that hip proprioceptive input increased the transmission of facilitatory interneurons and decreased the transmission of inhibitory interneurons affecting α motoneuronal excitability.…”

Section: Which Afferents/receptors Of the Hip Region Were Excited Durmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of hip joint angle changes on intersegmental spinal coupling in human spinal cord injury

Knikou

2005

Exp Brain Res

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Pathological expression of movement and muscle tone in human upper motor neuron disorders has been partly associated with impaired modulation of spinal inhibitory mechanisms, such as reciprocal or presynaptic inhibition. In addition, input from specific afferent systems contributes significantly to spinal reflex circuits coupled with posture or locomotion. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to identify the involved afferents and their relative contribution to soleus H-reflex modulation induced by changes in hip position, and to relate these effects with activity of spinal interneuronal circuits. Specifically, we investigated the actions of group I synergistic and antagonistic muscle afferents (e.g. common peroneal nerve, CPN; medial gastrocnemius, MG) and tactile plantar cutaneous afferents on the soleus H-reflex during controlled hip angle variations in 11 motor incomplete spinal cord injured (SCI) subjects. It has been postulated in healthy subjects that CPN stimulation evokes an inhibition on the soleus H-reflex at a conditioning test (C-T) interval of 2-4 ms. This short latency reflex depression is caused mainly by activation of the reciprocal Ia inhibitory pathway. At longer C-T intervals (beyond 30 ms) the soleus H-reflex is again depressed, and is generally accepted to be caused by presynaptic inhibition of soleus Ia afferents. Similarly, MG nerve stimulation depresses soleus H-reflex excitability at the C-T interval of 6 ms, involving the pathway of non-reciprocal group I inhibition, while excitation of plantar cutaneous afferents affects the activity of spinal reflex pathways in the extensors. In this study, soleus H-reflexes recorded alone or during CPN stimulation at either short (2, 3, 4 ms) or long (80, 100, 120 ms) C-T intervals, and MG nerve stimulation delivered at 6 ms were elicited via conventional methods and similar to those adopted in studies conducted in healthy subjects. Plantar skin conditioning stimulation was delivered through two surface electrodes placed on the metatarsals at different C-T intervals ranging from 3 to 90 ms. CPN stimulation at either short or long C-T intervals and MG nerve stimulation resulted in a significant facilitation of the soleus H-reflex, regardless of the hip angle tested. Plantar skin stimulation delivered with hip extended at 10° induced a bimodal facilitation reflex pattern, while with hip flexed (10°, 30°) the reflex facilitation increased with increments in the C-T interval. This study provides evidence that in human chronic SCI, classically key inhibitory reflex actions are switched to facilitatory, and that spinal processing of plantar cutaneous sensory input and actions of synergistic/antagonistic muscle afferents interact with hip proprioceptive input to facilitate soleus H-reflex excitability. These actions might be associated with the pathological expression of neural control of movement in individuals with SCI, and potentially could be considered in rehabilitation programs geared to restore sensorimotor function in these patien...

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Monosynaptic and oligosynaptic contributions to human ankle jerk and H-reflex

Cited by 333 publications

References 0 publications

Radiation of phasic stretch reflex in biceps brachii to muscles of the arm in man and its restriction during development.

Radiation of phasic stretch reflex in biceps brachii to muscles of the arm in man and its restriction during development.

The regulation of presynaptic inhibition during co‐contraction of antagonistic muscles in man.

Effects of hip joint angle changes on intersegmental spinal coupling in human spinal cord injury

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