Abstract
THE existence of a powerful inhibitory mechanism acting at the level of the primary afferent fibre has been well demonstrated1. The method by which this presynaptic inhibitory pathway acts is generally accepted to be through a prolonged depolarization of the central terminals of the primary afferent fibres with, as a consequence, depression of the amount of excitatory transmitter substance liberated by their synaptic terminals. This depolarization of the central terminals of a particular group of primary afferent fibres is effected in a rather specific manner by afferent impulses from some types of receptors and not from others. For example, the group I afferent impulses entering the spinal cord through the sensory fibres of the nerve to a flexor muscle (but not an extensor) will produce a prolonged depolarization of the central terminals of the primary afferent fibres from annulospiral endings of muscles of that limb, both flexors and extensors.
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DEVANANDAN, M., ECCLES, R. & YOKOTA, T. Presynaptic Inhibition induced by Muscle Stretch. Nature 204, 996–998 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/204996b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/204996b0
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