The frequency response of frog muscle spindles under various conditions

Abstract

1. Nerve impulses were recorded from afferents from non-contracting spindles from the isolated extensor longus dig. IV muscle of the frog during small sinusoidal changes in muscle length at frequencies from 0.001 to 100 Hz. A computer of average transients was used to average the spike distribution during a number of cycles, and hence to determine the spindle response in impulses/sec at different phases of the cycle.2. At any one frequency the response could be described by a sinusoid, whose amplitude was approximately proportional to the amplitude of the stretch and whose phase was approximately constant, together with a non-linearity dependent principally upon non-linearities in the static response.3. The frequency response was estimated from the sinusoid responses. In conventional terms, it consisted of a straight line of positive slope below 2 Hz and a maximum between 7 and 16 Hz.4. The slope of the frequency response was dependent on the mean length of the preparation, typically varying from zero to about 0.5 (3 db/octave) over the physiological range of the passive muscle. The shape of the peak appeared to depend on the mean firing frequency.5. The responses to ramp stretches of one second duration and up to 2 mm in amplitude were also measured. Responses predicted from the sinusoid measurements were the same shape as the measured responses, but were larger by a factor of about 1.4.6. The shapes of both the frequency responses and the responses to ramps were hardly affected by an operation that removed most of the polar parts of the spindles.7. The results are discussed in terms of internal spindle mechanisms.