Wiring diagrams of functional connectivity in monosynaptic reflex arcs of the spinal cord

Abstract

The direct functional connections between Ia and group II spindle afferent fibers from the cat medial gastrocnemius muscle and their homonymous motoneurons were examined in 10 acute experiments. Trains of stretch-evoked impulses from as many as 20 undivided sensory fibers were recorded simultaneously from 5 dorsal root filaments, as well as the corresponding excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) they elicited in 10-20 motoneurons. Spike-triggered averaging [13] of these tape-recorded signals revealed the functional connections (or non-connections) between each Ia or group II afferent fiber and each motoneuron. Wiring diagrams constructed from these data indicate that the probability of a functional connection between an afferent fiber and a motoneuron decreases with the size of either and with the distance between the entry point of the afferent fiber and the motoneuron.