Abstract
Muscle spindles provide essential information for appropriate motor control. In appendicular muscles, much is known about their position and movement sensitivities, but little is known about the axial muscles of the low back. We investigated the dynamic responsiveness of lumbar paraspinal muscle spindle afferents from L6 dorsal root filaments during constant velocity movement of the L6 vertebra (the feline has seven lumbar vertebrae) in Nembutal-anesthetized cats. Actuations of 1 mm applied at the L6 spinous process were delivered at 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mm/s. The slow velocity component was measured as the slope of the relationship between displacement during the constant velocity ramp and instantaneous discharge frequency. The quick velocity component was the slope’s intercept at zero displacement. The peak component was determined as the highest discharge rates occurring near the end of the ramp compared with control. The slow velocity component over the three increasing velocities was 23.9 (9.9), 21.6 (9.6) and 20.5 (9.5) imp/(s mm) [mean (SD)], respectively. The quick velocity component was 28.4 (8.6), 31.4 (9.8) and 35.8 (10.6) imp/s, respectively. These measures of dynamic responsiveness were at least 5–10 times higher compared with values reported for appendicular muscle spindles. The peak component’s velocity sensitivity was 2.9 (imp/s)/(mm/s) [0.2, 5.5, lower, upper 95% confidence interval] similar to that for cervical paraspinal muscles as well as appendicular muscles. Increased dynamic responsiveness of lumbar paraspinal muscle spindles may insure central driving to insure control of intervertebral motion during changes in spinal orientation. It may also contribute to large, rapid and potentially injurious increases in paraspinal muscle activity during sudden and unexpected muscle stretch.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Reference List
Akatani J, Kanda K, Wada N (2004) Synaptic input from homonymous group I afferents in m. longissimus lumborum motoneurons in the L4 spinal segment in cats. Exp Brain Res 156:396–398
Azar NR, Kallakuri S, Chen C, Lu Y, Cavanaugh JM (2009) Strain and load thresholds for cervical muscle recruitment in response to quasi-static tensile stretch of the caprine C5–C6 facet joint capsule. J Electromyogr Kinesiol [Epub ahead of print]
Bergmark A (1989) Stability of the lumbar spine: a study in mechanical engineering. Acta Orthop Scand 60:2–54
Bogduk N, Macintosh JE, Pearcy MJ (1992) A universal model of the lumbar back muscles in the upright position. Spine 17:897–913
Brumagne S, Cordo P, Lysens R, Verschueren S, Swinnen S (2000) The role of paraspinal muscle spindles in lumbosacral position sense in individuals with and without low back pain. Spine 25:989–994
Cao DY, Pickar JG, Ge W, Ianuzzi A, Khalsa PS (2009) Position sensitivity of feline paraspinal muscle spindles to vertebral movement in the lumbar spine. J Neurophysiol 101:1722–1729
Cheney PD, Preston JB (1976) Classification and response characteristics of muscle spindle afferents in the primate. J Neurophysiol 39:1–8
Cholewicki J, McGill SM (1996) Mechanical stability of the in vivo lumbar spine: implications for injury and chronic low back pain. Clin Biomech 11:1–15
Cordo PJ, Flores-Vieira C, Verschueren SMP, Inglis JT, Gurfinkel V (2002) Position sensitivity of human muscle spindles: single afferent and population representations. J Neurophysiol 87:1186–1195
Crisco JJ, Panjabi MM (1991) The intersegmental and multisegmental muscles of the lumbar spine: a biomechanical model comparing lateral stabilizing potential. Spine 16:793–799
Durbaba R, Taylor A, Ellaway PH, Rawlinson S (2006) Classification of longissimus lumborum muscle spindle afferents in the anaesthetized cat. J Physiol 571:489–498
Durbaba R, Taylor A, Ellaway PH, Rawlinson SR (2007) Spinal projection of spindle afferents of the longissimus lumborum muscles of the cat. J Physiol 580:659–675
Dutia MB, Ferrell WR (1980) The effect of suxamethonium on the response to stretch of Golgi tendon organs in the cat. J Physiol 306:511–518
Gandevia SC (1996) Kinethesia: roles for afferent signals and motor commands. In: Rowell LB, Shephard JT (eds) Handbook of physiology, Sect. 12: exercise: regulation and integration of multiple systems. American Physiological Society, Bethesda, pp 128–172
Ge W, Long CR, Pickar JG (2005) Vertebral position alters paraspinal muscle spindle responsiveness in the feline spine: effect of positioning duration. J Physiol 569:655–665
Gill KP, Callaghan MJ (1998) The measurement of lumbar proprioception in individuals with and without low back pain. Spine 23:371–377
Grill SE, Hallett M (1995) Velocity sensitivity of human muscle spindle afferents and slowly adapting type II cutaneous mechanoreceptors. J Physiol 489(Pt 2):593–602
Ianuzzi A, Khalsa PS (2005) Comparison of human lumbar facet joint capsule strains during simulated high-velocity, low-amplitude spinal manipulation versus physiological motions. Spine J 5:277–290
Indahl A, Kaigle AM, Reikeras O, Holm SH (1997) Interaction between the porcine lumbar intervertebral disc, zygapophysial joints, and paraspinal muscles. Spine 22:2834–2840
Knoblich G, Thornton I, Grosjean M, Shiffrar M (2006) Human body perception from the inside out. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Lavender SA, Marras WS, Miller RA (1993) The development of response strategies in preparation for sudden loading to the torso. Spine 18:2097–2105
Lennerstrand G (1968) Position and velocity sensitivity of muscle spindles in the cat. I. Primary and secondary endings deprived of fusimotor activation. Acta Physiol Scand 73:281–299
Little JS, Khalsa PS (2005) Material properties of the human lumbar facet joint capsule. J Biomech Eng 127:15–24
Macdonald D, Moseley GL, Hodges PW (2009) Why do some patients keep hurting their back? Evidence of ongoing back muscle dysfunction during remission from recurrent back pain. Pain 142:183–188
Matthews PBC (1963) The response of de-efferented muscle spindle receptors to stretching at different velocities. J Physiol 168:660–678
Matthews PBC (1972) Mammalian muscle receptors and their central actions. The Williams & Wilkin Co, Baltimore
McGill SM (1991) Kinetic potential of the lumbar trunk musculature about three orthogonal orthopaedic axes in extreme postures. Spine 16:809–815
Moseley GL, Hodges PW, Gandevia SC (2002) Deep and superficial fibers of the lumbar multifidus muscle are differentially active during voluntary arm movements. Spine 27:E29–E36
Moseley GL, Hodges PW, Gandevia SC (2003) External perturbation of the trunk in standing humans differentially activates components of the medial back muscles. J Physiol 547:581–587
Pickar JG (1999) An in vivo preparation for investigating neural responses to controlled loading of a lumbar vertebra in the anesthetized cat. J Neurosci Methods 89:87–96
Prochazka A (1996) Proprioceptive feedback and movement regulation. In: Rowell LB, Shepherd JT (eds) Handbook of Physiology. American Physiological Society, Bethesda, pp 89–127
Radebold A, Cholewicki J, Panjabi MM, TCh Patel (2000) Muscle response pattern to sudden trunk loading in healthy individuals and in patients with chronic low back pain. Spine 25:947–954
Radebold A, Cholewicki J, Polzhofer GK, Greene HS (2001) Impaired postural control of the lumbar spine is associated with delayed muscle response times in patients with chronic idiopathic low back pain. Spine 26:724–730
Richmond FJR, Abrahams VC (1979) Physiological properties of muscle spindles in dorsal neck muscles of the cat. J Neurophysiol 42:604–615
Schafer SS (1973) The characteristic curves of the dynamic response of primary muscle spindle endings in the absence and presence of stimulation of fusimotor fibres. Brain Res 59:395–399
Smith CM, Eldred E (1961) Mode of action of succinylcholine on sensory endings of mammalian muscle spindles. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 131:237–242
Stubbs M, Harris M, Solomonow M, Zhou B, Lu Y, Baratta RV (1998) Ligamento-muscular protective reflex in the lumbar spine of the feline. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 8:197–204
Wada N, Takahashi K, Kanda K (2003) Synaptic inputs from low threshold afferents of trunk muscles to motoneurons innervating the longissimus lumborum muscle in the spinal cat. Exp Brain Res 149:487–496
Ward SR, Kim CW, Eng CM, Gottschalk LJ, Tomiya A, Garfin SR, Lieber RL (2009) Architectural analysis and intraoperative measurements demonstrate the unique design of the multifidus muscle for lumbar spine stability. J Bone Joint Surg Am 91:176–185
Wilder DG, Pope MH, Frymoyer JW (1988) The biomechanics of lumbar disc herniation and the effect of overload and instability. J Spinal Disord 1:16–32
Wilke HJ, Wolf S, Claes LE, Arand M, Weisand A (1995) Stability increase of the lumbar spine with different muscle groups: a biomechanical in vitro study. Spine 20:192–198
Windhorst U, Meyer-Lohmann J, Schmidt J (1975) Correlation of the dynamic behaviour of de-efferented primary muscle spindle endings with their static behaviour. Pflugers Arch 357:113–122
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Mr. Randall Sozio for the technical work, Dr. Cynthia Long for statistical consultation and Mr. Ying Cao for the statistical assistance. This work was supported by NIH grant U19AT002006 to JGP and PSK. The work was conducted in a facility constructed with support from Research Facilities Improvement Grant Number C06 RR15433 from the National Center for Research Resources.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cao, DY., Khalsa, P.S. & Pickar, J.G. Dynamic responsiveness of lumbar paraspinal muscle spindles during vertebral movement in the cat. Exp Brain Res 197, 369–377 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1924-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1924-0