Effect of neck posture on patterns of activation of feline neck muscles during horizontal rotation

The electromyographic (EMG) patterns of neck muscles were recorded during whole-body horizontal rotation in head-free, alert cats and head-restrained, decerebrate cats. In some trials the cervical column of the animal was oriented vertically, whereas in others it was oriented more horizontally. In alert cats making head movements that compensated for the motion of the platform, neck muscles with modulated patterns of activity could be divided into a subset whose individual EMG patterns changed significantly when the neck posture was altered (including longissimus capitis, obliquus capitis superior and scalenus anterior) and a subset whose individual EMG patterns were invariant regardless of neck posture (including obliquus capitis inferior, levator scapulae and complexus). In head-restrained, decerebrate cats, electromyograms from all implanted muscles were modulated similarly in phase with the platform position. Changing the orientation of the neck had little effect upon these EMG patterns evoked by the horizontal vestibulocollic reflex. One decerebrate cat with strong extensor tone was tested further under head-free conditions. There was very little compensatory head movement, but individual neck muscles displayed patterns of activity that were more similar to those observed in alert, head-free animals.