Responses of Ia afferent axons from muscle spindles lacking a bag1 intrafusal muscle fibre.

The Ia afferent axon innervating the muscle spindle is characterised by the dynamic nature of its response to stretch. Traditionally this response has been attributed to the properties of the bag1 intrafusal muscle fibre, a view supported recently by reports of stretch-activation of the bag1 fibre. Some spindle capsules lack a bag1 fibre and the Ia afferent axon terminates on the bag2 and chain fibres only. Such axons may be identified by their lack of an enhanced dynamic response to infusions of succinylcholine. In these experiments the responses to passive stretch of these axons have been investigated and found to be indistinguishable from those of the main Ia population. This implies that the bag1 fibre is not essential to the generation of the dynamic response of primary endings.