Bötzel K, Feise P, Kolev O I, Krafczyk S, Brandt T
Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
Exp Brain Res. 2001 Jun;138(4):446-51. doi: 10.1007/s002210100726.
We investigated whether a tap with a reflex hammer to the forehead can elicit responses in the leg muscles and whether vestibular stimulation is the crucial prerequisite for eliciting these responses. We also measured the postural changes caused by the tap and by the compensatory, presumably reflex-like reactions of the subject. Tap-evoked activity of leg muscles was easily elicited during upright stance in normal subjects and was also seen in two subjects without vestibular function. The pattern of muscle activation clearly showed a counteraction to the tap-evoked perturbation of stance. Taps applied to the chest elicited similar reflexes. Since these two conditions imply a different activation of the vestibular apparatus, the vestibular input alone cannot account for the observed leg muscle reflexes. We suggest that multisensory reflex pathways that integrate vestibular and proprioceptive inputs account for these reflexes.
我们研究了用反射锤轻敲前额是否能引起腿部肌肉的反应，以及前庭刺激是否是引发这些反应的关键前提条件。我们还测量了轻敲以及受试者可能类似反射的代偿反应所引起的姿势变化。在正常受试者直立站立时，轻敲诱发的腿部肌肉活动很容易被引发，并且在两名没有前庭功能的受试者中也观察到了这种活动。肌肉激活模式清楚地显示出对轻敲诱发的姿势扰动的对抗作用。轻敲胸部也会引发类似的反射。由于这两种情况意味着前庭装置的不同激活，仅前庭输入无法解释观察到的腿部肌肉反射。我们认为，整合前庭和本体感觉输入的多感觉反射通路可以解释这些反射。
