Physiological characterization of motor unit properties in intact cats.

Single motor units were isolated in intact cats, by microstimulation through chronically implanted microwires in the L5 ventral roots. Motor unit axonal and mechanical properties were obtained by stimulus-triggered averaging the signals from an implanted femoral nerve recording cuff and patellar tendon force transducer. All unit types were sampled with this technique, and it was also possible to stimulate in isolation an axon whose ventral root spike was recorded during treadmill locomotion. A new technique was described, spike-triggered microstimulation, for verifying the identity of a stimulated and a recorded axon.