Jaw muscle afferent firing during an isotonic jaw-positioning task in the monkey
- PMID: 6223990
- DOI: 10.1152/jn.1983.50.1.61
Jaw muscle afferent firing during an isotonic jaw-positioning task in the monkey
Abstract
The activity of jaw muscle receptors was studied by recording neurons in the mesencephalic nucleus of the trigeminal nerve in monkeys trained to control the position and movement of their mandible. Jaw position was measured by a weighted lever resting on the mandibular incisors. The force required to maintain the position of the lever was varied; in most cases it was either 25 or 360 g. Firing rates of neurons were related to stationary mandibular positions and to the velocity of movements during intervals when the movement velocity was constant. Of 49 neurons studied in detail, 21 fired at rates that were consistently and linearly related to static incisal openings. This static position sensitivity was typically about 5 spikes/mm of incisal opening. Most position-sensitive neurons fired at higher rates during opening movements and at lower rates during closing movements than would be accounted for by their position sensitivity. This sensitivity to the velocity of movement was not linear, however; slow closing movements sometimes did not produce a decrease in firing rate, and an actual increase during muscle shortening was seen in a few instances. The position sensitivity of eight neurons was evaluated during different loading conditions; in no case did it change substantially. Of the remaining 28 neurons, 26 fired at high rates during all opening movements and either stopped firing or fired at low, sporadic rates during closing movements. The static position sensitivity of these neurons was weak and variable both within and between neurons. The velocity sensitivity of these stretch-sensitive neurons was very nonlinear. Except for a range of slow movements (+/- 5 mm/s), the firing rate was maximal (200 spikes/s or higher) for most opening movements and zero for most closing movements. Maximal firing rates were higher when the loads being moved were increased from 25 to 360 g. The majority of position-sensitive neurons exhibited a large interspike-interval variability at wide incisal opening. In most of these neurons, this interspike-interval variability was periodic, usually at a rate of about 10 periods/s, and took the form of "saw-tooth" modulation on a record of instantaneous firing rate. Neurons that exhibited this modulation in a very prominent form also exhibited, in many instances, a substantial increase in firing rate during closing jaw movements.
Similar articles
-
Projection and synaptic connectivity of trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus neurons controlling jaw reflexes.J Oral Sci. 2017;59(2):177-182. doi: 10.2334/josnusd.16-0845. J Oral Sci. 2017. PMID: 28637975 Review.
-
Postural control of the human mandible.Arch Oral Biol. 2007 Apr;52(4):347-52. doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2006.12.017. Epub 2007 Jan 25. Arch Oral Biol. 2007. PMID: 17257577 Review.
-
Branching of muscle spindle afferents of jaw closing muscles in the cat.J Physiol. 1982 Feb;323:483-95. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1982.sp014087. J Physiol. 1982. PMID: 6212671 Free PMC article.
-
A functional analysis of the components of the mesencephalic nucleus of the fifth nerve in the cat.J Physiol. 1972 Oct;226(1):249-61. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1972.sp009983. J Physiol. 1972. PMID: 4263681 Free PMC article.
-
Discharge of spindle afferents from jaw-closing muscles during chewing in alert monkeys.J Neurophysiol. 1975 May;38(3):560-71. doi: 10.1152/jn.1975.38.3.560. J Neurophysiol. 1975. PMID: 123950
Cited by
-
Multiple regions of sensorimotor cortex encode bite force and gape.Front Syst Neurosci. 2023 Sep 22;17:1213279. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2023.1213279. eCollection 2023. Front Syst Neurosci. 2023. PMID: 37808467 Free PMC article.
-
Implementation of linear sensory signaling via multiple coordinated mechanisms at central vestibular nerve synapses.Neuron. 2015 Mar 4;85(5):1132-44. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.01.017. Epub 2015 Feb 19. Neuron. 2015. PMID: 25704949 Free PMC article.
-
Afferent sensory mechanisms involved in jaw gape-related muscle activation in unilateral biting.Clin Oral Investig. 2014 Apr;18(3):883-90. doi: 10.1007/s00784-013-1024-1. Epub 2013 Jul 3. Clin Oral Investig. 2014. PMID: 23820759
-
Gamma loop contributing to maximal voluntary contractions in man.J Physiol. 1986 Nov;380:575-91. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1986.sp016303. J Physiol. 1986. PMID: 3612576 Free PMC article.
-
Discharge in muscle spindle afferents related to direction of slow precision movements in man.J Physiol. 1985 May;362:437-53. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1985.sp015687. J Physiol. 1985. PMID: 3160852 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources