Identification of two species of alpha motoneurons in cat's plantaris pool.

1. Single units of the plantaris pool were isolated in ventral root filaments of decerebrate cats and their critical firing levels (CFLs) were determined. Motoneurons of similar size, as judged by their CFLs and other criteria, were compared in firing rate (FR) during repetitive stimulation of the plantaris nerve. 2. Such units either differed very little or quite widely, suggesting that they were sampled randomly from two populations, one firing rapidly, the other slowly. The relationship between the two rates remained approximately constant, regardless of the intensity or rate of input the units received, as long as both of them discharged rhythmically. 3. In single experiments 10-15 of the smallest units in the pool (all with CFLs in the 0-8% range) were isolated and compared. Statistical analyses and visual inspection of these small samples again suggested the existence of two species of motoneurons. 4. Statistical analyses also indicated that the FRs of units in single experiments were not sampled from any one of a variety of parametric, single-modal distributions. This suggests that the data were sampled from a distribution having more than one mode, indicating the existence of separate populations or species of motoneurons among the small units of the pool (0-8% range of CFL). 5. Pooling of the normalized data from different experiments revealed a bimodal histogram, reinforcing the conclusion that there are two species of small alpha motoneurons in the plantaris pool.