Convergent effects from vestibulospinal tract and primary cutaneous afferent fibers on motoneurons to ankle extensor and flexor muscles in humans

Abstract

The latency and magnitude of cutaneomuscular reflexes, evoked by stimulation of the sural nerve in the contralateral and ipsilateral tibialis anterior and soleus, were investigated in normal human subjects during static tilts in the pitch axis. For all subjects the test reflex consisted of oscillating sequences of excitation and inhibition, each muscle exhibiting a characteristic pattern defined by its latency and sign of the initial phase. The latency of the various components and the sign of the initial phase did not vary with angle of tilt. However, the results of an ANOVA demonstrate a highly significant tilt-dependent modulation of the amplitude of the test reflex for the initial inhibitory phase of the contralateral tibialis anterior. We propose that this tilt-dependent effect on the crossed cutaneomuscular reflex originates from activity in the otolith organ receptors.