Release Of Tone Research Articles

Sympathetic vasodilatation in human skin.

Sympathetic vasodilatation in human skin.

Abnormalities in rectal tone and contraction in paraplegia and hemiplegia

Graphic records showing the reactions of the rectal muscle to distention with air were made in normal individuals and in hemiplegic and paraplegic patients. The normal rectal wall often contracts in response to sudden stretch. These responses vary in different individuals and would probably show similar changes in threshold in the same person under different circumstances. In the patients with hemiplegia and paraplegia the response to stretch stimuli was much more active. There were also rhythmical waves of rectal contraction elicited by distention which became of sufficient strength to expel the balloon. The rectal wall was more resistant to distention than normal. These responses were in general more marked in individuals with bilateral injury of the corticospinal fibers. They suggest a release of tone in the smooth muscle of the rectum from normal control by the cerebral motor cortex.