The effect of suxamethonium on the response to stretch of Golgi tendon organs in the cat.

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Abstract
The effects of intra-arterial infusion of suxamethonium (succinylcholine, SCh) on the response to stretch of Golgi tendon organs in the soleus muscle of the cat were studied. SCh infusion produced a gradual facilitation of the discharge of tendon organs with low thresholds to passive muscle stretch, but had no detectable effect on tendon organs with high thresholds to stretch. The time course of excitation and recovery of low-threshol tendon organs after SCh infusion was much longer than that of muscle spindle primary and secondary sensory endings. Control experiments showed that there was no change in the passive tension of the soleus muscle during SCh infusion, thus excluding the possibility that the excitation of the low-threshold tendon organs is due to an increase in passive muscle tension. SCh can excite receptors other than those in muscle spindles and SCh activation on its own may not be a sufficient criterion on the basis of which to identify muscle spindle afferent axons.