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Muscle spindle responses to rapid stretching in normal cats

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Muscle Receptors and Movement

Summary

Discharges of single muscle spindle primary afferents were recorded in normal cats during rapid, imposed limb movements which stretched the receptor-bearing muscles. The spindles discharged in bursts during the stretch, each burst preceding by about 10 msec an EMG burst in the receptor-bearing muscle. In stretches of very short duration, which only allowed sufficient time for one spindle burst, only one EMG burst was observed. This suggests that both the short latency and the longer latency EMG responses to rapid muscle stretching depend, at least in part, on the prior occurrence of bursts of spindle discharge.

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Prochazka, A., Wand, P. (1981). Muscle spindle responses to rapid stretching in normal cats. In: Taylor, A., Prochazka, A. (eds) Muscle Receptors and Movement. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06022-1_27

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