Recurrent inhibition of human firing motoneurons (experimental and modeling study)

Recurrent inhibition between tonically activated single human motoneurons was studied experimentally and by means of a computer simulation. Motor unit activity was recorded during weak isometric constant-force muscle contractions of brachial biceps (BB) and soleus (SOL) muscles. Three techniques (cross correlogram, frequencygram, and interspike interval analysis) were used to gauge the relations between single motor unit potential trains. Pure inhibition was detected in 5.6% of 54 BB motoneuron pairs and in 5.2% of 43 SOL motoneuron pairs. In 27.8% (BB) and 23.7% (SOL) presumed inhibition symptoms were accompanied by a synchrony peak; 37% (BB) and 48.8% (SOL) exhibited synchrony alone. The demonstrated inhibition was very weak, at the edge of detectability. Computer simulations were based on the threshold-crossing model of a tonically firing motoneuron. The model included synaptic noise as well as threshold and postsynaptic potential (PSP) amplitude change within interspike interval. Inhibition efficiency of the model neurons increased with IPSP amplitude and duration, and with increasing source firing rate. The efficiency depended on target motoneuron interspike interval in a manner similar to standard deviation of ISI. The minimum detectable amplitude estimated in the simulations was about 50 microV, which, compared with the experimental results, suggests that amplitudes of detectable recurrent IPSPs in human motoneurons during weak muscle contractions do not exceed this magnitude. Since recurrent inhibition is known to be progressively depressed with an increase in the force of voluntary contraction, it is concluded that the recurrent inhibition hardly plays any important role in the isometric muscle contractions of constant force.