3 types of muscles: neuromuscular junction -

synapse between efferent

1) Smooth muscle - controlled by the terminal button and the
autonomic nervous system; may either membrane of a muscle fiber
be generally inactive and then respond to motor endplates (postsynaptic
neural stimulation or hormones or may membrane)
be rhythmic acetylcholine - released by
efferent axons terminal buttons,
2) Cardiac muscle - found in the heart, result in depolarization at
acts like rhythmic smooth muscle, endplate; endplate potential all or
modulated by neural activity and none (no threshold), produces
hormones contraction or "twitch" of the
muscle fiber (calcium channels
3) Skeletal muscle - move us around open - trigger rowing action)
and responsible for most of our single impulse produces single
behavior; most attached to bones at each twitch, need series of action
end via tendons potentials to produce a
sustained contraction of the
movement: muscle fiber

flexion - contraction of flexor Sensory feedback from muscles:

muscles, drawing in of a limb
extension - opposite of flexion, intrafusal muscle fibers -
produced by contraction of stretch when the muscle
extensor muscles (antigravity) lengthens and relaxed when it
shortens - detect muscle length
anatomy: Golgi tendon organ - stretch
receptors located within the
extrafusal muscle fibers - tendons, detecting the amount of
served by axons of the alpha stretch exerted by the muscles on
motor neurons (serve multiple the bones to which they are
muscle fibers); contraction of attached; encode degree of
these muscles provides stretch by the rate of firing; dont
movement - extrafusal muscle respond to length, but to how
fibers and associated alpha motor hard it is pulling
neurons are called a motor unit passive movement - someone
intrafusal muscle fibers - lowering your relaxed arm while
specialized sensory organs he holds it - muscles lengthen
served by 2 axons, one sensory passively - effect on Golgi
and one motor - also tendon organ?
called muscle spindles arm dropped quickly - effect on
gamma motor neuron - efferent Golgi tendon organ?
axon causes the intrafusal muscle weight dropped into hand held
fiber to contract, but contributes parallel to the floor - effect on
little force; serves to modify the Golgi tendon organ?
sensitivity of the fibers afferent
axon to force Monosynaptic stretch reflex:
myofibrils contain actin &
myosin - proteins that provide stimulating patellar tendon
the physical basis for muscular causes knee to kick - occurs in 50
contraction myosin attaches to milliseconds, too fast for brain to
actin, lets go, then reattaches be involved
lower on the strand, etc. - rowing if asked to move leg when
motion produces muscular touched on knee, would be
contraction slower

Muscular contraction: Weight placed in a persons hand -

1) afferent impulses from the muscle neuron, which then increase
spindle are conducted to the terminal muscular contraction
buttons in the gray matter of the spinal
cord Polysynaptic reflexes:

2) terminal buttons synapse onto an Golgi tendon organs have 2 kinds of

alpha motor neuron receptors:

3) alpha motor neuron synapses on more sensitive - tell how hard the
motor endplate on the extrafusal muscle muscle is pulling
fibers of the same muscle
less sensitive - their terminal
4) if arm starts to drop, then muscle buttons synapse onto an
spindle afferent neurons start to fire as interneuron in the spinal cord
they detect muscle lengthening, they gray matter which then synapse
then synapse on alpha motor neurons onto the relevant alpha motor
and rate of firing increases, and then neuron, producing inhibitory
muscle contraction increases (glycine) potentials

example: posture - if pushed forward, o decreases muscular

muscles in back of calves stretch, contraction, prevents
causing contractions in the toes injury

Gamma motor system: Agonist-antagonist muscle groups

allows for adjustment of Muscle spindles send terminal buttons

sensitivity of muscle spindles to to:
muscle length
when muscle spindles are 1. alpha motor neurons
relaxed, they are relatively 2. the brain
insensitive to stretch; but when 3. inhibitory interneurons
already taught, they feel stretch
quicker Organization of the motor cortex:
gamma motor neurons contract
muscle spindles, making them homunculus - disproportionate
more sensitive amount of motor cortex devoted
to fingers and speech muscles
Brain sends message for movement: primary motor cortex -
stimulation produces movement;
1. alpha motor neuron and gamma connected to primary sensory
motor neurons activated cortex
2. alpha motor neurons start the o monkeys respond faster
muscle contracting when trained to pull a
3. if no resistance, both extrafusal lever following a stimulus
and intrafusal muscle fibers to the hand, rather than
contract at the same rate, sending sight or sound
little info from muscle spindles frontal association cortex -
4. if resistance, then extrafusal stimulates primary motor cortex;
muscle fibers are halted, but receives input from association
intrafusal continue to contract, as areas of the occipital (visual),
told to by the gamma motor parietal (spatial), and temporal
neuron (auditory) lobes
5. then, sensory info from the
intrafusal fibers goes to the Cortical control of movement:
spinal cord, where there is a
synapse onto the alpha motor Pathways that originate in the cortex:
1) corticospinal tract - axons terminate posterior left parietal lobe (left
in gray matter of spinal cord, mostly verbal area sends info to left
originating in primary motor cortex, parietal, which gets info re
through pyramidal tracts, then at the end environment from right parietal,
of the medulla they cross and descend and then calculates movement;
through the contralateral spinal cord, also, acalculia)
forming the lateral corticospinal
tract (control distal part of limbs); the 2. constructional apraxia - caused by
remaining fibers stay on the same side lesions of the right parietal lobe
and form the ventral corticospinal
tract (control upper legs and trunk) Basal ganglia - know Parkinsons &
Huntingtons
2) corticobulbar tract - projects to the
medulla, ending at cranial nerves which Cerebellum - know definitions of terms
control movements of the face and in bold and section about lesions of the
tongue lateral zone

Pathways that originate in the Reticular formation - controls activity

brainstem: of the gamma motor system - regulates
muscle tone (remember association with
1) rubrospinal tract - originates in the arousal and autonomic functioning)
red nucleus, which receives info from
motor cortex and cerebellum; axons
terminate on motor neurons in the spinal
cord (control arms and legs, but not
fingers)

2) ventromedial pathways - terminate

in gray matter of spinal cord;
include vestibulospinal, tectospinal,
and reticulospinal tracts (control
movement of the truck and proximal
limb muscles, such as walking, head
turning, autonomic functions)

apraxia - inability to properly execute a

learned skilled movement

1. limb apraxia - moving wrong part of

limb, moving correct part in the wrong
way, or correct movements in the wrong
sequence (assessed by pantomiming)

callosal apraxia - apraxia of the

left limb caused by damage to the
anterior corpus callosum (think
about pathway from hearing
speech to following command)
sympathetic apraxia - apraxia
of left hand due to damage to the
anterior left hemisphere (cant
communicate to right if cant
process info from verbal
channels); why was it called
sympathetic?
left parietal apraxia - apraxia of
both limbs due to lesions of the