Neck Muscle and Extraocular Receptors and Their Relationship to the Tectospinal Tract

The spinal course and distribution of fore and hind limb muscle afferent projections to the superior colliculus of the cat.

“…INTRODUCTION The superior colliculus (SC) of the cat receives input from a number of non-visual systems. These include connexions from extraocular (Cooper, V. C. ABRAHAMS AND P. K. ROSE Daniel & Whitteridge, 1955;Cooper & Fillenz, 1955; Abrahams, Rancier & Rose, 1973;Abrahams & Rose, 1975), and neck muscle afferents (Abrahams & Rose, 1975), as well as connexions from the auditory (Straschill & Hoffman, 1969;Stein & Arigbede, 1972;Gordon, 1973), and somatosensory systems (Bell, Sierra, Buendia & Segundo, 1964;Jassik-Gerschenfeld, 1965, 1966Straschill & Hoffman, 1969;Stein & Arigbede, 1972;Gordon, 1973). The extraocular and neck muscle projections constitute one of the richest projections to the SC and electrical excitation of neck muscle and extraocular muscle nerves can be a more effective stimulus to unit discharge in the SC than visual stimulation (Abrahams & Rose, 1975).…”