Habituation of spinal interneurons.

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Abstract
Following repetitive cutaneous stimulation, the response of some, but not all, dorsal horn interneurons decrements is studied. Units showing a decrement have several distinguishing characteristics. They respond many times to a single shock, have a wide dynamic range, do not respond monosynaptically to skin stimulation, and are spontaneously active at rates greater than 5/sec. The parametric properties of the decrement observed in interneurons are sufficiently similar to that observed in motoneurons to suggest that the former is the cause of the latter. The effects of repetitive stimulation of one set of afferents on the response to stimulation of a second set of afferents suggests that the decrement is most easily explained by a buildup of inhibition either on the axonal terminals of interneurons which do not show a decrement, or on the dendrites of interneurons which do show a decrement.