Proprioceptor distribution and control of a muscle reflex in the tibia of spider legs
- 1 September 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Neurobiology
- Vol. 15 (5) , 365-374
- https://doi.org/10.1002/neu.480150506
Abstract
In spiders, retrograde cobalt staining was used to clarify the distribution and detailed innervation of the three types of proprioceptors in the tibiometatarsal leg joint: internal joint receptors, lyriform slit sense organs, and cuticular spines and hairs. The axons of all these receptors run in just two lateral, ascending nerves, which had previously been associated only with the internal receptors. Each nerve contains several hundred axons ranging in diameter from 0.1 μm to ca. 10 μm. Each slit of the four tibial lyriform organs is innervated by two bipolar sensory neurons. The lateral nerves are entirely sensory and run just beneath the cuticle, a convenient site for electrophysiological recording. We demonstrate simultaneous nerve and muscle recordings from intact spiders; these, in combination with selective sensory ablations, show that a resistance reflex in the flexor metatarsi muscles is elicited by internal joint‐receptor units.This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
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