Properties of cat neck muscle spindles and their excitation by succinylcholine.

The sensitivity to sinusoidal stretching and small-amplitude vibration, and the variability of the resting discharge rate of de-efferented muscle spindles in the neck extensor muscle biventer cervicis (b.c.) of the cat have been studied. The effects of intra-arterial infusion of succinylcholine (SCh) on the response of the receptors to ramp stretches of the muscle were also determined. When activated by SCh, one group of afferents showed only a slow facilitation of their discharge rate, similar to that of spindle secondary sensory endings in hind-limb muscles. A second group of afferents developed a large dynamic response and a marked increase in their static discharge rate and were presumed to originate in "normal" b1b2 c spindles in the b.c. muscle. A third group of afferents developed only a marked increase in static discharge, without potentiation of the dynamic response, suggesting an origin in the b2c units of tandem spindles which are relatively common in the neck muscles. On the basis of their passive characteristics alone, afferents from b1b2c units could not be readily distinguished from those from b2c units. The characteristics of these receptors, and their differences from the well-studied hind-limb spindle afferents, are discussed.