Reflex Movement Flashcards
What are the 3 types of movement?
- Involuntary actions - reflex movement
- Semi-automatic actions - CPG in breathing
- Voluntary action
What are reflexes?
- No conscious element: involuntary actions
- Stereotyped responses
- Typically consist of a monosynaptic circuit
- Rapid, short latency/delay between sensory component and motor component
What is the basic pattern for an voluntary movement?
Motor cortex -> brainstem -> spinal cord -> muscle
Which neurotransmitter is released at the neuromuscular junction to cause muscle contraction?
Acetylcholine
What is the common final component in reflex pathways?
Motor neurons in spinal cord innervating muscle which causes muscle contraction
What does ‘monosynaptic’ mean?
Only one central synapse
Where are motor neuron cell bodies located?
In the spinal cord (somatic) or the brainstem (cranial nerves)
What are motor neurons activated by?
- Various brain regions (cortex)
- Various peripheral receptors (reflex)
What are the components in a reflex pathway?
Stimulus, receptor, afferent (sensory) neuron, synapse, (interneuron), efferent (motor) neuron, effector (muscle, gland), response
Describe tendon-jerk reflexes (type of receptor, afferents, motor neurons)
- Proprioceptor endings
- Group 1a muscle afferents
- Homonymous motor neurons
Describe cutaneous reflexes
- Mechanoreceptor endings
- Noiceptor endings
Describe the quadriceps (knee-jerk) reflex
- Tapping patellar tendon with a hammer
- Stretches the quadriceps muscle
- Initiates reflex arc: contraction of quadriceps muscle, causing extension of lower limb causing foot lift
- Group 1a muscle afferents wrap around individual fibres
- When fibrils are stretched: displacement of ionotropic channels within endings of primary afferents -> action potential occurs
- Aalpha axons synapse with alpha and gamma
Which axons have the largest diameter, highest degree of myelination and fastest conduction speed?
Aalpha
What does the knee-jerk reflex/quadriceps reflex aim to do?
Restore tension in the muscle (opposes the stretch)
What are the purposse of somatic reflexes?
- To maintain posture and tone
- Escape mechanism
- Prevention of muscle overloading
- Prevention of inadvertant foreign body ingestion
- Digestive aid 8 7