Responses of motor cortical cells to short trains of vibration

The response discharges of precentral motor cortical cells to brief trains of vibration applied to the tendon of biceps brachii were analyzed in two alert but passive monkeys. The activity of 20 phasic-tonic and 6 tonic cells was analyzed. All had functional linkages with flexor muscles during a preceding flexion task and responded to passive movement of the elbow. Taking as a reference the stereotyped reflex response in the stretched muscle, the effect of changes in the amplitude of a constant frequency vibration (4 vibrations at 58 Hz) was quantified statistically in peristimulus histograms of the cortical cell discharges. All cells were transiently influenced by low vibration amplitudes. Most responses (71%) were excitatory and occurred at a mean latency of 24 ms, which is consistent with cells activated by input from stretch receptors. Excitatory, reproducible responses to the lowest vibration amplitudes were more frequent in phasic-tonic than in pure tonic cells. Large-amplitude vibrations always excited the motor cortical cells. The sign of the responses to vibration matched that to passive elbow movements for most cells. These findings show that elbow-related motor cortical cells are very sensitive to proprioceptive input from primary spindle afferents.