Abstract
The anterior (DA) and posterior parts of the deltoid (DP) show alternating contraction during shoulder flexion and extension movements. It is expected that an inhibitory spinal reflex between the DA and DP exists. In this study, spinal reflexes between the DA and DP were examined in healthy human subjects using post-stimulus time histogram (PSTH) and electromyogram averaging (EMG-A). Electrical conditioning stimulation was delivered to the axillary nerve branch that innervates the DA (DA nerve) and DP (DP nerve) with the intensity below the motor threshold. In the PSTH study, the stimulation to the DA and DP nerves inhibited (decrease in the firing probability) 31 of 54 DA motor units and 31 of 51 DP motor units. The inhibition was not provoked by cutaneous stimulation. The central synaptic delay of the inhibition between the DA and DP nerves was 1.5 ± 0.5 ms and 1.4 ± 0.4 ms (mean ± SD) longer than those of the homonymous facilitation of the DA and DP, respectively. In the EMG-A study, conditioning stimulation to the DA and DP nerves inhibited the rectified and averaged EMG of the DP and DA, respectively. The inhibition diminished with tonic vibration stimulation to the DA and DP and recovered 20–30 min after vibration removal. These findings suggest that oligo(di or tri)-synaptic inhibition mediated by group Ia afferents between the DA and DP exists in humans.
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The data and materials that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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The authors thank all the participants who were engaged in this study.
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The study was supported by Yamagata Health Support Society and JSPS KAKENHI to MN (Grant Number: 19K19827 and 22K17628).
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TY, MN, MS, and AN conceived and designed research. TY, MN, WH, TS, and KS performed experiments. TY, MN, and MS analyzed data and interpreted results of experiments. TY, MN, MS, and AN drafted manuscript. All authors read and approved final version of manuscript.
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Communicated by Winston D Byblow.
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Yoshimoto, T., Nito, M., Hashizume, W. et al. Mutual oligosynaptic inhibition of group Ia afferents between the anterior and posterior parts of the deltoid in humans. Exp Brain Res 242, 1481–1493 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-024-06834-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-024-06834-7