In this course, students learn to recognize and to apply the basic concepts that govern integrated body function (as an intact organism) in the body's nine organ systems.
Control of Movement
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From the course by Duke University
Introductory Human Physiology
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From the lesson
The Senses and the Somatic Nervous System
In this module, we consider two types of cells: one that relays information to the central nervous system (brain) for interpretation and a second set, motor neurons which relay information away from the central nervous system to govern voluntary movement. The input pathway to the brain is mediated by specific cells called senses. The senses convert energy (such as light or heat) into an energy form (electrical potentials) recognized by neurons in the brain. The brain, in turn, interprets this information (as vision or pain) and then sends out a motor response via the motor neurons of the somatic nervous system to effector cells in the body. The motor neurons activate skeletal muscle to control breathing and the movement of the limbs.
The things to do this week are to watch the 5 videos, to answer the in-video questions, to read the notes, and to complete the problem set. It will be most effective if you follow the sequence of videos. The notes provide a more detailed summary of each topic. We encourage you to find which resource (videos and/or notes) works best for you and to try the problems sets. The problem sets are not graded. Both your understanding and retention will increase with application of the new learned information.
Meet the Instructors
Jennifer CarbreyAssistant Research Professor
Department of Cell Biology
Emma JakoiAssociate Research Professor
Department of Cell Biology
Welcome back.
We're going to finish talking about the somatic
nervous system when we talk about the control of movement.
And I think one aspect that's interesting about this is how much of it
is really focused in the spinal cord versus in the brain.
And that will become evident in a few minutes.
First we're going to talk about the fact that there are actually two types of lower
motor neurons, meaning the motor neurons that are innervating the skeletal muscle.
There are alpha motor neurons.
These are the ones that we're used to discussing.
These are the ones that are innervating what we call the extrafusal
muscle fibers or cells.
These are the fibers of the main part of the muscle, and these are the ones that
are doing the contracting to cause the muscle to produce tension.
So these are the main muscle cells, and
the alpha motor neurons are the ones controlling those muscle cells.
So this is what's doing the work of a muscle,
are the alpha motor neurons activating the extra fusal muscle fibers.
In muscles we also have another structure called the muscle spindle.
Which is consists of what are called intrafusal fibers.
That's what are shown here, which are special muscle
cells that shorten, but they don't really generate force of the muscle.
Another component of this muscle spindle which is contained in this capsule right
here is our afferent neurons that are going to,
since the stretch of these intrafusal fibers and so it's going to be
gamma motor neurons that are going to innervate these intrafusal fibers.
So you might ask, okay if these intrafusal fibers
aren't contributing to the force producing capacity or the ability of the muscle.
Why do we have them?
And, so the point of this muscle spindle is to have this parallel system
of intrafusal fibers, and these parallel system of the alpha and
gamma fibers so that whenever the alpha fibers
of the alpha motor neurons are being stimulated to cause muscle to contract,
the gamma motor neurons will also be stimulated.
So that as a result when ever the extrafusal fibers shorten
the intrafusal fibers should shorten in the same manner.
And so in this way the muscle spindle is like this parallel system that is special
because of this afferent neuron sensing the stretch in the fiber.
And so it's this parallel system that let's the body monitor the length of
the muscle by monitoring the length of the intrafusal fibers which
are activated in the same manner, and at the same time as the extrafusal fibers.
And so this is going to be one of our aspects of
muscle length that is going to be monitored for
proprioception is the amount of stretch.
And so this muscle spindle is gonna be critical for
monitoring the length of the muscle as it shortens so that.
The more it's stretched, the more firing there will be of this
neuron, and then as we contract, the firing will reduce less and less.
And that will tell the central nervous system that the muscle is getting shorter.
And because there's less stretch so there'd be fewer action potentials and
then that will tell the body about where, for
instance, the position of the hand is based on how short the muscle is.
So these alpha and gamma motor neurons are going to be efferent
somatic motor neurons and they're gonna be co activated so that
this muscle spindle will reflect what's happening in the rest of the muscle.
We're gonna switch gears just a little bit to now talk about muscle sensory
receptors.
And you've probably guessed we're already talked about one of them, and
that's gonna be the muscle spindle.
So it's going to be an important sensory receptor for
muscle is going to be the muscle spindle.
You can see how that afferent neuron that we were just talking about,
it's coiling around the muscle, and it's gonna sense stretch.
You can remember it because spindle starts with an s and so does stretch.
And that means that when your muscle is stretched that's when the neuron is firing
the most and then as the muscle shortens it's gonna be firing less and less.
When it's firing a lot because there is a lot of stretch.
It can cause a reflex that is going to cause contraction of the stretched muscle.
So this is gonna be a negative feedback loop.
Which means that if we're saying the problem is that this muscle is over
stretched, then to correct that problem it's gonna want to cause contraction.
For instance, let's say of the bicep.
Now, to do that, it's also going to need to worry about what's happening with
the tricep because if you want to shorten this muscle, the bicep,
then you're also going to need to relax the tricep.
And so the circuitry, and we'll see the specific circuitry in a minute,
is going to cause what we call reciprocal innervation
which means we're gonna cause contraction of the stretched muscle, and
then we need to cause the opposite action, relaxation, in the antagonistic muscle.
So that would be the biceps versus the triceps.
So in this way that gamma motor neuron is going to activate
the intrafusal fibers to cause them to shorten.
Alongside the extrafusal fibers and
the muscle spindle which is the sensory portion, are gonna act in this negative
feedback loop so that we can keep the muscle length at a desired value.
And we'll see how that happens more in a minute.
Our other muscle sensory receptor is going to be called the golgi tendon organ,
which is going to be located in the tendon that's attaching the muscle to the bone.
And so this is going to respond to a different type of stimulus.
We said the muscle's spindle is going to be activated when you stretch the muscle.
When you stretch a muscle, the Golgi tendon organ or
the tendon itself is not going to be stretched that much,
because when you stretch a muscle the muscle is gonna give so
that there's not that much tension put on the tendon.
So if the Golgi tendon organ fires very infrequently,
just when the muscle's at rest, when it's stretched, when the muscle
is maximally stressed, the Golgi tendon organ might fire a little bit more.
But when it really fires and
remember these are gonna be mecanorreceptors in these,
this afferent neuron that's gonna respond to tension in the the tendon.
When that golgi tendon organ is really going to fire is when your maximally
contracting your muscle,
because that's when that tendon is pulling against the load.
It's kinda caught between the contracting muscle and the load.
And that's when the golgi tendon organ is going to just fire,
like action potentials like crazy.
So that's why we say the Golgi tendon organ is responding to tension in
the muscle, not stretch, and I always remember it because tendon,
of the Golgi tendon organ, starts with a T, just like tension.
So, the Golgi tendon organ is sensing tension generated by the muscle,
which is basically going to be when it's contracting.
It's going to be an afferent nerve ending located at the junction of the muscle and
the tendon.
And then, we're going to have an afferent axon.
So it's going to be a mechanorecepter stretch-activated
ion channels in this Golgi tendon organ.
So that means that since golgi tendon organ is activated by contraction,
then they're going to act to negatively feedback
to regulate tension, so that if the Golgi tendon organ is really firing,
because you're lifting a really heavy load,
it's going to act to reduce contraction, to relax the contracting muscle.
And then again, it's going to have to act with reciprocal innervation
to then cause contraction of the antagonistic muscle.
So, it's going to act to fix the problem, to use negative feedback, but
it's going to act to relax the muscle that's contracting.
And we'll see a more concrete example of this in a moment.
So, let's talk about reflexes.
Where we're going to have some sort of sensory input,
then the central nervous system is going to decide what to do about that input.
And then it's going to cause a response that's going to
be controlled by an efferent pathway like the somatic nervous system.
We're going to talk about first, the muscle stretch reflex,
which is basically, an example of this would be the knee jerk reflex,
when the doctor might use a little hammer as you're dangling
your leg over the examining table.
And when he does that, he is striking the patella tendon under your kneecap,
which is then tugging on the kneecap, and then on the quadricep muscle.
And it's basically causing the quadricep muscle to stretch really quickly.
And so, that's going to activate the muscle spindle.
And we know that when we activate the muscle spindle,
that's going to cause contraction of the muscle and
relaxation of the antagonistic muscle, and that's what we're showing here.
So, we've activated the spindle,
that's going to cause contraction of the quadricep muscle and
relaxation of the hamstring muscle.
And we're going to do that through the action of an inhibitory
interneuron that's sitting between the muscle spindle neuron,
afferent neuron, and the neuron for the hamstring.
So we have an inhibitory interneuron, and it's going to
release a neurotransmitter, such as GABA, or glycine,
very commonly, in a synapse with the semantic neuron for
the hamstring, and those neuron transmitters often cause
opening of chloride channels, which is going to cause chloride to rush in
to the somatic motor neuron controlling the hamstring, and
if chloride rushes in negative charges rush in and those channel stay open.
It's going to be much harder to cause an action potential In that neuron and
if you have a reduction in action potential frequency,
that's basically relaxation of a muscle.
So again, our language here is action potentials.
So when you want a muscle to contract more,
you have a higher frequency of action potentials.
If you want it to relax, then you greatly reduce the frequency of action potentials.
So when we're talking about antagonistic control, or reciprocal innervation,
we're causing one neuron to fire more rapidly to cause one muscle to contract,
and then we're causing the other neuron leading to the antagonistic muscle
to fire less frequently, which is going to cause relaxation.
And so that's what's happening here when we have this reflex where we've got
activation to muscle spindle, activation of the quadracep muscle, and
then activation of the inhibitory interneuron, which prevents firing of
the neuron that is leading to the hamstring.
Now this, obviously the vast majority of our movements are not completely reflex.
One thing to note with this is,
that this reflex that we're talking about really involves only the spinal cord.
These are the neurons, and this is only about involving the spinal cord.
However, we can use reflexes like this by influencing them
from up above, from the brain to do more everyday tasks.
So an example of using this muscle stretch reflex would be if you're holding
a glass for someone to pour a drink into.
Your brain knows that if you're holding this empty glass, and someone's about to
pour a drink, you need to keep your arm level, so that when they start
to pour the drink you don't just dump it because of the extra load from the drink.
And so what the brain can do is say, okay, this muscle is right where it needs to be.
I don't want it to get any longer.
I don't want it to stretch any more.
And so, it changes the sensitivity of the muscle spindle so that now,
it's not only going to act just if it's completely stretched in a dramatic way,
it's going to act and be super-sensitive, so
that it's going to cause a reflex if this muscle gets longer at all.
And so what will happen is that you've got this new amount of sensitivity set into
the system from the brain, affecting the same circuit we've just been talking
about, and someone starts to pour a drink, the load gets greater
because this is heavier, so your arm dips just a little bit.
But that's when that muscle spindle says no I don't want to stretch.
And so it causes this same reflex that we just saw with the knee jerk reflex,
where it's going to cause contraction of the biceps and relaxation of the triceps
to keep this drink level, keep your arm level so you don't spill the drink.
So in this way, the basic circuitry is the same as this
completely reflexive action of the knee jerk reflex,
but we are able to modify That system, by the brain,
through the brain, and use it for a more everyday purpose.
So let's talk about the Golgi tendon reflex, that's also gonna cause a reflex.
Well we said, remember, the Golgi tendon's gonna be really activated when the muscle
is really contracted and really pulling dramatically on that tendon.
So that means we've got the signal coming from the Golgi tendon organ,
coming into the spinal cord.
Its cell body's gonna be sitting here in the dorsal root ganglion
of the spinal cord.
And it's going to act on an excitatory inner neuron
in the tricep, to then cause excitation
of the somatic motor neuron leading to the tricep to cause contraction of the tricep.
And then it's gonna act to activate an inhibitory neuron
which will then inhibit the neuron leading to the bicep to cause it to relax.
So, it's again, trying to fix the problem of too much tension in the muscle.
And it's gonna do that by relaxing this muscle and
contracting the opposing muscle.
So it's gonna act with reciprocal innervation again and
this is going to act to limit the tension within the muscle
so that we can protect the muscle and the muscle tendon junction so
that they don't damage or just rip apart.
We can also have influence of a stimulus
that is not in the muscle itself, or not in the tendon itself.
It could be, for instance, a pain stimulus coming from the skin which can also
cause a reflexive action that involves the somatic motor system.
And this is an example where it's called the withdrawal reflex.
Because in this case someone has just stepped on a jack
and as a result the reflex is going to be to withdraw the foot.
So that means that the quadricep is gonna be relaxed and
the hamstring is gonna be contracted to do that withdrawal.
Now if you withdrew your foot, and
didn't make an adjustment in the opposing foot, you would just fall right over.
And so
this withdrawal reflex not only involves withdrawal of the limb but
it also involves the crossed extensor reflex,
which causes the opposite action in the opposite leg.
Where instead of withdrawing the other leg you extend it, which allows
you to support all of your weight on the foot that's not experiencing the pain.
So this gets even more complicated, because not only do we have reciprocal
innervation in each leg, but we also have opposite actions in each leg.
And so that's what this animation is showing.
Where now we're activating to withdraw this leg and
to extend this leg through again, afferent pathway this time from a pain receptor.
And so we're getting reciprocal innervation of each leg and
causing opposite effect in one leg versus the other,
to withdraw one leg and extend the other leg.
And again, this sort of reflex can be
modulated by the brain, so if you pick up a hot plate,
your reflex is going to be to withdraw your hands.
However, if that plate is really precious china or
it's got your favorite meal on it,
you might be able to kinda tell yourself okay I know it's hot but hold on.
If it's too hot you might not be able to do that.
But you do have some control in some instances over your reflexes and
again it's just the brain influencing these very circuits that we're looking at.
That's gonna move us to talking a little bit about central pattern generators,
which are going to be these spinal cord-centered
circuits that are gonna be responsible for a lot of our repetitive
movements that happen in everyday life.
So these are going to be neural circuits that are gonna coordinate
complex patterns of movement.
And that it's gonna be independent of sensory input to some extent,
but that it can be adjusted in response to some sensory feedback, and
I'll give you an example.
So because these are repetitive movements that means that these circuits
that are generated are going to be oscillatory.
And they are gonna be flexible due to control by the brain.
So let's talk about one of the easiest things to
see an example of this would be walking, where you've got two different
actions that you're gonna do, two main actions that you're gonna do.
One is that you're going to have the swing phase when you walk,
which is going to be whenever your foot is off the ground.
You're swinging it from being behind you to in front of you.
So that's the swing phase.
Then the stance phase is when you've just stepped on the foot, and
then you're going to push to move your body forward.
That's called the stance phase.
And so each leg is going to alternate between being in the swing phase and
the stance phase.
And again, you're gonna have to have reciprocal innervation of
the different muscles to allow for, basically, withdrawal and extension.
But then when your right leg is in the swing phase,
your left leg will be in the stance phase.
And so again, like with the withdrawal reflex
you're gonna have reciprocal innervation of the limbs as well.
So it's actually somewhat simple,
or very repetitive motion where you're
just repeating the same sets of muscle contraction.
But you need to make sure that the left leg is
doing the opposite of the right leg at all times.
And so this can be established and
based in the spinal cord through these central pattern generators,
where they just generate this pattern of neural activity that causes you to walk.
This can be adjusted by the brain, and
that's adjusted in response to sensory feedback and influenced by the brain.
And an example of that would be if you want to go from walking to running.
It's the same general pattern.
It's just you're gonna reduce the stance phase and that will allow you to run.
So, it's just a little modulation of the main central pattern generator
that allows you to switch to running.
And it's efficient because you get to use the same basic circuits and
just modify them to do a different activity such as running versus walking.
This has also been pretty well studied in quadrupeds, so
in animals that have four legs.
When, for instance, a horse goes from a trot to a walk to a gallop,
they still have a similar motion of basically
a swing versus a stance phase with their leg.
But the pattern of which leg is in which phase changes depending on how their gait.
And so again it's a modification of one of these central pattern generators
that allows for that different pattern of movement
in different types of gaits in a quadruped animal.
So we've talked about our sensory receptors in muscle
that are going to regulate muscle length and
velocity of shortening and tension in the muscle.
And remember how we can use these in terms of just being able to monitor what's
going on with the muscle, in terms of proprioception.
But then also in using it as a reflex to protect the muscle.
Or to do everyday activities as well.
And then, we do have some reflex actions that are involved with
any sort of sensory information.
We talked about sensory information coming from muscle, tendons, or
skin and causing a movement in an appropriate muscle.
And then we talked about central pattern generators and
how they can be important in everyday repetitive movement,
such as walking, and how it's
gonna involve having antagonistic muscles being reciprocally
innervated as well as reciprocal innervation of certain limbs as well.
So central pattern generators will be involved in many
everyday processes that are repetitive in nature.
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