Facilitation of agonist motoneurons upon initiation of rapid and slow voluntary movements in man

Abstract

The time course of facilitation of the agonist motoneurons upon initiation of voluntary ankle dorsiflexion was investigated in eight healthy subjects. The H-reflex and visually guided tracking methods were used for testing the excitability of the motoneuron pool and for controlling the initiation of movement as well as speed and force. Since the onset of voluntary EMG activity (EMG reaction time: EMGvRT) was delayed and/or obscured by test H-reflexes which were evoked very close to the behavioral responses, the subject was instructed to make response movements bilaterally, and EMGvRT was measured on the side without stimulation. In every subject, the EMGvRT was invariably longer in the ramp movement than in the step movement. The onset of H-reflex facilitation prior to EMG onset, which was regarded as indicating the arrival time of the descending motor command to the motoneuron pool, always started earlier in the ramp movement than in the step movement. The difference in facilitation onset between the two tasks was smaller than that in EMGvRT. Since the amplitude of the H-reflex at the onset of the voluntary EMG was equivalent in both movements, the development of H-reflex towards the behavioral EMG onset was more gradual in the ramp movement than in the step movement. The present results demonstrate that the longer reaction time in the slow ramp task depends on 2 factors: delay in the arrival of descending facilitatory impulses to the agonist motoneuron pool, and its slow recruitment thereafter.