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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
13:07
Simultaneous Intracellular Recording of a Lumbar Motoneuron and the Force Produced by its Motor Unit in the Adult Mouse In vivo
Published on: December 5, 2012
Relation between motoneuron position and lateral rectus motor unit contraction speed: an intracellular study in the
Neuroscience Letters
|April 9, 1981
Abstract:
Thirty-one single muscle units of the cat lateral rectus muscle were activated through intracellular stimulation of their motoneurons in the principal abducens nucleus. Motoneurons encountered from dorsal to ventral in the nucleus tended to innervate muscle units with progressively slower contraction times. In addition, two cells innervated muscle units which did not exhibit twitch contractions and three cells innervated muscle units with unusually strong twitch contractions.
Related Concept Videos
01:13Motor Units
The motor unit is a fundamental component of the neuromuscular system and plays a crucial role in coordinating muscle contractions. It consists of a somatic motor neuron, which connects and controls multiple skeletal muscle fibers, forming a single functional segment. The axon of the motor neuron branches out and establishes synaptic connections known as neuromuscular junctions with individual muscle fibers within the motor unit.
Motor units come in different sizes, with smaller units...
Motor units come in different sizes, with smaller units...
01:20Motor Unit Stimulation
When the neuron of a motor unit fires an action potential, it triggers a series of events, leading to a twitch contraction in the muscle fibers. The process of excitation-contraction coupling is crucial in relaying the action potential to the muscle fibers.
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...