HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 538/1/209    most recent 2001.012785v1 Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gregory, J. E. Articles by Proske, U. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gregory, J. E. Articles by Proske, U.

Effect of eccentric muscle contractions on Golgi tendon organ responses to passive and active tension in the cat

J. E. Gregory, C. L. Brockett, D. L. Morgan *, N. P. Whitehead and U. Proske

To investigate the possibility of a peripheral contribution to the perturbations of force sensation reported to occur after eccentric exercise, responses to passive and active tension were recorded from Golgi tendon organs in the medial gastrocnemius muscle of the anaesthetised cat, before and after a series of eccentric contractions. After the eccentric contractions, nearly all tendon organs commenced firing at a shorter muscle length during slow passive stretch than before, probably because of a rise in whole muscle passive tension. There was a small drop in the sensitivity to incremental tension, but no mean change in tension threshold. Following the eccentric contractions, there was a small, but not significant, increase in tendon organ sensitivity to active tension, which was graded using a method of optimised, distributed stimulation of divided ventral roots. Sensitivity was estimated as the mean response over a range of tensions and as the change in discharge rate in response to incremental tension. The experiments provided the opportunity of comparing tendon organ sensitivities to graded passive and active whole muscle tension. In agreement with previous work in which whole muscle nerve stimulation was employed, little difference was found. It was concluded that the peripheral contribution to perturbations of force perception after eccentric exercise is likely to be small and that the centrally derived sense of effort plays the dominant role. Tendon organs appear to be remarkably reliable in signalling whole muscle tension, whether passive or active, and even after the muscle's force production has been disturbed by fatigue or eccentric exercise.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. M. Marcora, A. Bosio, and H. M. de Morree Locomotor muscle fatigue increases cardiorespiratory responses and reduces performance during intense cycling exercise independently from metabolic stress Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, March 1, 2008; 294(3): R874 - R883. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. A Winter, T. J Allen, and U Proske Muscle spindle signals combine with the sense of effort to indicate limb position J. Physiol., November 1, 2005; 568(3): 1035 - 1046. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]