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Palisade endings and proprioception in extraocular muscles: a comparison with skeletal muscles

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Abstract

This article describes current views on motor and sensory control of extraocular muscles (EOMs) based on anatomical data. The special morphology of EOMs, including their motor innervation, is described in comparison to classical skeletal limb and trunk muscles. The presence of proprioceptive organs is reviewed with emphasis on the palisade endings (PEs), which are unique to EOMs, but the function of which is still debated. In consideration of the current new anatomical data about the location of cell bodies of PEs, a hypothesis on the function of PEs in EOMs and the multiply innervated muscle fibres they are attached to is put forward.

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  1. Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Department I, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Pettenkoferstrasse 11, 80336, Munich, Germany

    Karoline Lienbacher & Anja K. E. Horn

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  1. Karoline Lienbacher
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  2. Anja K. E. Horn
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Correspondence to Anja K. E. Horn.

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This article forms part of a special issue of Biological Cybernetics entitled “Multimodal and Sensorimotor Bionics”.

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Lienbacher, K., Horn, A.K.E. Palisade endings and proprioception in extraocular muscles: a comparison with skeletal muscles. Biol Cybern 106, 643–655 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00422-012-0519-1

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