Abstract
A study was made of changes in the amplitude of H-reflexes in m. gastrocnemius and the intensity of Ia inhibition in healthy subjects versus patients with midthoracic injury to the spinal cord before, during, and after voluntary tensing of the masticatory, cervical, and finger muscles. Tensing these muscles brought about facilitation of H-reflex and reduced intensity of Ia response in healthy subjects and patients with paraparesis but produced the opposite effect on paraplegics (or had no influence on reactions). This leads to a discussion of the relationship between the changes observed in reflex reactions and posttrauma damage to structure and function of the spinal cord.
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A. A. Bogomolets Institute, of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Kiev. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 105–113, January–February, 1988.
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Pilyavskii, A.I., Yakhnitsa, I.A., Potekhin, L.D. et al. Descending modulation of reflex reactions in spinal motoneurons produced by spinal cord injury in man. Neurophysiology 20, 85–91 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02198431
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02198431