Golgi tendon organ

The present in all vertebrates Golgi tendon organ, named after Camillo Golgi, is a sensory organ of depth perception. It's kind of nerve network, which is used to measure and control the muscle tension. It is located at the junction between muscle and tendon and is responsible, along with the muscle spindles for the proprioception of the muscles.

Golgi tendon organs passing over nerve fibers of the Class Ib the central nervous system information on the state of stress of the respective muscles. It also skin and Gelenkafferenzen play a role, and Ia and II afferents of muscle spindles. The effect of this multimodal signal is primarily an inhibitory effect on the motor neuron 's own muscle ( autogenic inhibition). Also, is activated by excitatory interneurons of the antagonist.

Construction

The Golgi tendon organ consists of a criss-crossed by the tendon fibers fibrous capsule ( Perineuralkapsel ) which surrounds the broken chain end of an afferent nerve fiber of type Ib. The sensory endings of the nerve by pulling the tendon fibers.

Function

An increase in muscle tension causes a tension in the tendon. This causes the nerve endings, which run through the tendon fibers, compressed and triggered an action potential. This is communicated via Ib nerve fibers into the spinal cord, where it is transferred to several interneurons in the ventral horn.

Inverse stretch reflex

The inverse stretch reflex is a proprioceptive reflex. The activation of the Golgi tendon organ, among other things an inhibitory interneuron is activated in the spinal cord, which has an inhibitory effect on α - motoneuron and thus on the muscle tension. The aim of this reflex is to keep the tension of the muscle in an optimum range. In extreme situations, it protects the muscle against overload.