Control of muscle function

• Proper control of muscle function requires not only

excitation of the muscle by spinal cord anterior motor
neurons but also continuous feedback of sensory
information from each muscle to the spinal cord,
indicating the functional status of each muscle at each
instant. That is, what is the length of the muscle, what
is its instantaneous tension, and how rapidly is its
length or tension changing? To provide this
information, the muscles and their tendons are
supplied abundantly with two special types of sensory
receptors.
 MUSCLE RECEPTORS
 They sense different features of the state
of the muscle

Muscle spindles within the fleshy

 MUSCLE SENSORY RECEPTORS—
MUSCLE SPINDLES AND GOLGI
TENDON ORGANS—AND THEIR
ROLES IN MUSCLE CONTROL
• Two special types of sensory receptors:
(1) muscle spindles ,
• which are distributed throughout the belly of the muscle
and send information to the nervous system about muscle
length or rate of change of length, and
(2) Golgi tendon organs ,
• which are located in the muscle tendons and transmit
information about tendon tension or rate of change of
tension.
 MUSCLE SPINDLE
 Fusiform, spindle-like shape
 Respond to STRECH of specialized muscle fibers
 Range in length form 3 to 10 mm
 They have three main components:
1. A group of specialized (intrafusal) muscle fibers
2. Sensory terminals in the intrafusal muscle fibers
3. Motor terminals that regulate the sensitivity of
the spindle.
 RECEPTOR FUNCTION OF THE
MUSCLE SPINDLE

• Structure and Motor Innervation of the

Muscle Spindle.
Muscle spindle-structure.
• Sensory Innervation of the
Muscle Spindle.
• The receptor portion of the muscle spindle is
its central portion. In this area, the intrafusal
muscle fibers do not have myosin and actin
contractile elements.
• The muscle spindle receptor can be
excited in two ways:
• 1. Lengthening the whole muscle stretches the
midportion of the spindle and, therefore,
excites the receptor.
• 2. Even if the length of the entire muscle does
not change, contraction of the end portions of
the spindle’s intrafusal fibers stretches the
midportion of the spindle and therefore excites
the receptor.
 Sensory endings

Two types of sensory endings, the

primary afferent
secondary afferent endings, are found
in this central receptor area of the
muscle spindle.
• Primary Ending.
In the center of the receptor area, a large
sensory nerve fiber encircles the central portion of each
intrafusal fiber, forming the so-called primary afferent
ending or annulospiral ending. This nerve fiber is a type Ia
fiber averaging 17 micrometers in diameter, and it
transmits sensory signals to the spinal cord at a velocity of
70 to 120 m/sec, as rapidly as any type of nerve fiber in the
entire body.
Secondary Ending.
two smaller sensory nerve fibers—type
II fibers with an average diameter of 8 micrometers—
innervate the receptor region on one or both sides of the
primary ending.
 The Intrafusal Fibers Into Nuclear Bag and
Nuclear Chain Fibers—Dynamic and Static
Responses of the Muscle Spindle.
There are also two types of muscle spindle intrafusal
fibers: (1) nuclear bag muscle fibers (one to three in each
spindle), in which several muscle fiber nuclei are
congregated in expanded “bags”
The primary sensory nerve ending (the 17-
micrometer sensory fiber) is excited by both the nuclear
bag intrafusal fibers and the nuclear chain fibers.
Conversely, the secondary ending (the 8-micrometer
sensory fiber) is usually excited only by nuclear chain
fibers.
 When intrafusal fibers are stretched,
referred to as loading the spindle, the sensory
ending increase firing rate .
 WHY IS THAT?

• Because stretching of the spindle lengthens

the central region of the intrafusal fibers
around which the afferent fibers are entwined
 Ia fibers (primary) are more sensitive to the
rate of change of length than are type II
fibers (secondary)