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21 - Fusimotor control of the respiratory muscles

from Part III - Control of central nervous system output

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

A. Taylor
Affiliation:
Sherrington School of Physiology, United Medical and Dental Schools, St Thomas' Hospital Campus, London, UK
R. Durbaba
Affiliation:
Sherrington School of Physiology, United Medical and Dental Schools, St Thomas' Hospital Campus, London, UK
Hugh Bostock
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, London
P. A. Kirkwood
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, London
A. H. Pullen
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, London
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Summary

The first observations

Following the demonstration by Leksell (1945) of the fusimotor effects of γ-efferent fibres and their detailed study by Kuffler, Hunt & Quilliam (1951), their chief action was thought to be to bias spindle afferent firing. Hunt & Kuffler (1951) emphasized the usefulness of this in preventing silencing of spindles during active muscle shortening, while Merton (1953) visualized it as a way of operating a ‘length follow-up servo’ system. By the end of the 1950s much ground work had been done on the fusimotor system, principally in hindlimb muscles, and Granit's view had become established that the γ loop was generally co-activated with direct drive to α-motoneurones (Granit, 1955; Granit, Kellerth & Szumski, 1966).

In the early 1960s, the respiratory system was recognized as a convenient model for the organization of motor control. Tom Sears was involved in a series of studies laying the foundations for this approach. Intracellular recording demonstrated the monosynaptic connections of muscle afferents to intercostal motoneurones (Eccles, Sears & Shealy, 1962) and the inhibitory as well as excitatory effects of descending respiratory drive (Sears, 1964c). He also provided important background information on the afferent and efferent fibre diameter spectra (Sears, 1964a) and on motor unit types in intercostal muscles (Andersen & Sears, 1964) and introduced recording from natural intramuscular nerve filaments of intercostal muscles, in which the action potentials of a and α motor fibres could be distinguished by their different amplitudes (Sears, 1962, 1963).

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The Neurobiology of Disease
Contributions from Neuroscience to Clinical Neurology
, pp. 231 - 240
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1996

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  • Fusimotor control of the respiratory muscles
    • By A. Taylor, Sherrington School of Physiology, United Medical and Dental Schools, St Thomas' Hospital Campus, London, UK, R. Durbaba, Sherrington School of Physiology, United Medical and Dental Schools, St Thomas' Hospital Campus, London, UK
  • Edited by Hugh Bostock, Institute of Neurology, London, P. A. Kirkwood, Institute of Neurology, London, A. H. Pullen, Institute of Neurology, London
  • Book: The Neurobiology of Disease
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511570193.025
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  • Fusimotor control of the respiratory muscles
    • By A. Taylor, Sherrington School of Physiology, United Medical and Dental Schools, St Thomas' Hospital Campus, London, UK, R. Durbaba, Sherrington School of Physiology, United Medical and Dental Schools, St Thomas' Hospital Campus, London, UK
  • Edited by Hugh Bostock, Institute of Neurology, London, P. A. Kirkwood, Institute of Neurology, London, A. H. Pullen, Institute of Neurology, London
  • Book: The Neurobiology of Disease
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511570193.025
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Fusimotor control of the respiratory muscles
    • By A. Taylor, Sherrington School of Physiology, United Medical and Dental Schools, St Thomas' Hospital Campus, London, UK, R. Durbaba, Sherrington School of Physiology, United Medical and Dental Schools, St Thomas' Hospital Campus, London, UK
  • Edited by Hugh Bostock, Institute of Neurology, London, P. A. Kirkwood, Institute of Neurology, London, A. H. Pullen, Institute of Neurology, London
  • Book: The Neurobiology of Disease
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511570193.025
Available formats
×