1b Neuromuscular Control Flashcards
what are alpha motor neurones?
The lower motor neurones of the brainstem and the spinal cord that innervate the extrafusal muscle fibres of skeletal muscles
What does activation of the alpha motor neurones cause?
Muscle contraction
What is a motor neurone pool?
Pool which contains all the alpha motor neurones which innervate a single muscle
what is a motor unit?
a single motor neuron together with all the muscle fibres that it innervates. It is the smallest functional unit with which to produce force.
What does stimulation of a motor unit cause?
Contraction of all the muscle fibres in that unit
What are Type 1 muscle fibres?
Slow - smallest cell bodies and smalled dendritic trees, thinnest axons and slowest conduction velocity
What are Type 2A muscle fibres?
Fast, fatiguable - larger diameter cell bodies, larger dendritic trees, thicker axons and faster conductions
What are Type 2B muscle fibres?
Fast, fatigue resistant - larger diameter cell bodies, larger dendritic trees, thicker axons and faster conductions
What are Type 2B muscle fibres?
Fast, fatiguable - larger diameter cell bodies, larger dendritic trees, thicker axons and faster conductions
Which type of muscle fibre produces the largest amount of force?
Type 2B
How are the three motor unit types classified?
amount of tension generated, speed of contraction and fatiguability.
What are the two mechanisms by which the brain regulates the amount of force a single muscle produced?
rate coding and recruitment
What is recruitment?
When smaller units are recruited first, and as more force is required, larger units are then recruited - this allows for fine control when necessary
What is rate coding?
When different units can fire at different frequencies - higher firing rate is larger force
When does summation occur?
When the muscle units fire at a frequency which is too fast to allow the muscle to relax between AP’s