Induced changes in the thresholds for voluntary activation of human spindle endings

1. Recordings were made from forty-two muscle spindle afferents from the pre-tibial muscles of human subjects. For each afferent, the contraction level at which its discharge accelerated (its 'threshold for activation') was defined using isometric voluntary contractions of the receptor-bearing muscle. The effects on these thresholds of various manoeuvres designed to activate descending pathways or segmental sensory inputs were studied to determine whether the balance between the skeletomotor and fusimotor drives to the contracting muscle could be altered. 2. The Jendrassik reinforcement manoeuvre raised the threshold for voluntary activation of one spindle ending slightly but had no significant effect with seven other endings. It is concluded that the Jendrassik manoeuvre does not excite fusimotor neurons selectively or even preferentially. 3. Caloric vestibular stimulation altered the thresholds for voluntary activation of eight of eleven spindle endings, the most common effect being lowering of the threshold during the irrigation and for 1--1 . 5 min after its cessation. 4. Cutaneous stimulation by vibration lowered the thresholds for voluntary activation of some spindle endings when applied to the dorsum of the foot, and raised thresholds when applied to the lateral plantar surface. 5. Passive stretch of the receptor-bearing muscle by plantar flexion of the ankle and passive stretch of synergistic muscles in isolation raised thresholds for spindle activation; passive stretch or vibration of triceps surae lowered thresholds. 6. These studies suggest that the relationship between the skeletomotor and fusimotor drives to a muscle during a voluntary contraction is not rigidly fixed, but can be varied appropriately with the changing motor role demanded of the muscle by supraspinal drives and with the changes in sensory feed-back generated by the movement itself. 7. It is concluded that, provided the skeletomotor effects of a stimulus are known, changes in the threshold for spindle activation in a voluntary contraction can provide a means of determining the effects of that stimulus on fusimotor neurons even when the stimulus alone is not adequate to alter fusimotor drive.