Effect of diazepam on the gamma motor system indicated by the responses of the muscle spindle of the triceps surae muscle of the decerebrate cat to the muscle stretch

Abstract

The experiments were performed on 37 intercollicularly decerebrate cats. The triceps surae muscle was subjected to trapezoidal stretches of 10 mm/s or 2 mm/s over a length of 14 mm. The reflex arc was left partially or fully intact. The effect of diazepam given intravenously on the discharge frequencies of group Ia afferent fibres from muscle spindles in the belly of the triceps surae muscle was studied. Diazepam depressed both the dynamic and the static gamma motor responses. When gamma motor fibres were selectively blocked by procaine a parallel shift of the tension-extension curve was observed. From comparison of the effect of procaine and diazepam on the phasic and static responses of the muscle spindle it was concluded that directly after the injection of diazepam the gamma motor activity was completely abolished at a dose as low as 0.1 mg/kg whereas the alpha motor system was only partly depressed even at higher doses. Differences in the effect of diazepam on the dynamic and static gamma system respectively, could not be found.