Vibration-induced discharge patterns of single motor units in the masseter muscle in man

Single motor unit potentials were recorded with small bipolar wires from intact masseter muscles in the adult man and a detailed parametric analysis of the effects of muscle vibration on motor unit discharges was carried out. 2. When the vibration amplitude was kept constant, each unit started firing at a definite threshold of vibration frequency. With higher frequencies the rate of firing rapidly reached a maximum. Units recruited at higher frequencies presented a lower maximum rate of firing. 3. When the vibration frequency was kept constant, each masseter unit discharged at a definite threshold of vibration amplitude. With higher amplitudes the unit quickly reached a maximum rate of discharge. Units with a higher frequency threshold tended to also present a higher amplitude threshold. Motor unit "excitability" curves could be plotted using the combined threshold conditions for frequency and amplitude of applied vibrations. 4. With a given parametric set of vibration, the units only started firing at a given delay after the onset of vibration. The delay was quite different for different units and it increased considerably, sometimes by several seconds, when the vibration amplitude was made smaller. 5. In all the experimental conditions tested, and even when the unit discharge did not start until several seconds after vibration onset, the unit potential presented a close and highly consistent temporal relation to the vibration cycles. The slow recruitment process is thought to involve a polysynaptic excitatory mechanism which progressively depolarizes the masseter motoneurones close to their threshold, the actual firing being triggered by monosynaptic excitatory post-synaptic potentials from I(a) afferents, hence the small latency jitter recorded. This special pattern of tonic vibration reflex in jaw-closing muscles in man may result from the lack of reciprocal inhibition from the jaw-opening muscles.