Lower Motor Neurons Flashcards
Innervate Muscle
Lower (alpha) motor neurons
Have large axon diameters, are heavily myelinated, and are fast-conducting
Lower (alpha) motor neurons
Motor neurons end at
Neuromuscular Junctions
At the neuromuscular junction, we see acetylcholine nicotine synapse which is called
Excitation-contraction coupling
What is an example of a drug that affects the neuromuscular junction?
Botulinum Toxin
What is an example of a disease that affects the neuromuscular junction?
Myaethenia Gravis
Motor neurons controlling flexor muscles lie dorsal to
Motor neurons for extensors
Motor neurons controlling axial muscles lie medial to those controlling
Distal muscles
This is an example of
Somatotropic arrangement
The arrangement of lower motor neurons in the ventral horn is called
Somatotropic arrangement
The ventral horn shape is based on
Motor neurons to distal limbs
There are a few lower motor neurons (LMNs) with specific
Functions
Lower Motor neurons to trapezius and sternocleidomastoid (accessory nerve)
C2: accessory nucleus
Motor neurons to the Phrenic nerve controlling diaphragm
C3-C5
Motor neurons innervating urethral and external anal sphincter.
-For voluntary control of urination and defecation
S3-S4 Onuf’snucleus
The motor neurons to the pelvic floor muscles
S2-S4
Lower motor neurons are components of which CN’s?
CNs III-VII and IX-XII
A motor neuron and all the muscle fibers it innervates
Motor Unit
All the alpha motor neurons that innervate a single muscle
Motor neuron pool
All muscle fibers within a motor unit are the
Same type
Determine muscle fiber type
Motor neurons
Smaller motor neurons innervate
Small fibers
Shows a checkerbord appearance with diffuse blends of fiber types
Myosin ATPase stain
Increasing firing rate of alpha motor neurons =
Increased force
We can also control the contraction force of LMNs by
Recruiting additional motor units
In the stretch reflex circuit, muscle stretch receptors are connected to la afferents. These stretch receptors are
Excited
Then, the Ia afferent makes an excitatory synapse onto quadriceps motor neurons, causing
Muscle Contraction
The Ia afferent also makes an excitatory synapse onto an inhibitory interneuron, which inhibits
Hamstring (flexor) motor neurons
Provide information about body position/movement
Proprioreceptors
Arranged in parallelwith skeletal muscles fibers
Muscle spindles
Intrafusal muscle fibers within a connective tissue capsule
Muscle spindles
Muscle spindles have 2 types of afferents, both which have a large diameter, are myelinated, and respond to stretch. What are they?
Ia: dynamic (rapid stretch)
II: Sustained