Static gamma-motoneurones couple group Ia and II afferents of single muscle spindles in anaesthetised and decerebrate cats.

Abstract

Ideas about the functions of static gamma-motoneurones are based on the responses of primary and secondary endings to electrical stimulation of single static gamma-axons, usually at high frequencies. We compared these effects with the actions of spontaneously active gamma-motoneurones. In anaesthetised cats, afferents and efferents were recorded in intramuscular nerve branches to single muscle spindles. The occurrence of gamma-spikes, identified by a spike shape recognition system, was linked to video-taped contractions of type-identified intrafusal fibres in the dissected muscle spindles. When some static gamma-motoneurones were active at low frequency (< 15 Hz) they coupled the firing of group Ia and II afferents. Activity of other static gamma-motoneurones which tensed the intrafusal fibres appeared to enhance this effect. Under these conditions the secondary ending responded at shorter latency than the primary ending. In another series of experiments on decerebrate cats, responses of primary and secondary endings of single muscle spindles to activation of gamma-motoneurones by natural stimuli were compared with their responses to electrical stimulation of single gamma-axons supplying the same spindle. Electrical stimulation mimicked the natural actions of gamma-motoneurones on either the primary or the secondary ending, but not on both together. However, gamma-activity evoked by natural stimuli coupled the firing of afferents with the muscle at constant length, and also when it was stretched. Analysis showed that the timing and tightness of this coupling determined the degree of summation of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) evoked by each afferent in alpha-motoneurones and interneurones contacted by terminals of both endings, and thus the degree of facilitation of reflex actions of group II afferents.