Lec 15: Control of muscle spindles

Question 1

What is proprioception

Answer 1

It is the sense of oneself, it is one of the somatosensory modalities (touch/pressure, temp, pain). It involves receptors in skeletal muscle, joint capsules and the skin

Question 2

Give some info about intrafusal fibres

Answer 2

they are the components of muscle spindle, theyre alligned parallel to the normal muscle fibres and so can sense change in muscle length, theyre enclosed within a sheath of connective tissue, the central part contains nuclei and no contractile apparatus, two types - nuclear bag fibres and nucelar chain fibres, they are intwined by sensory nerve axons, they have a motor supply through axons of gamma motor neurons