Masseter muscle responses to forelimb nerve stimulation in the guinea pig.

These experiments were aimed at clarifying the spinal-masseteric connections by observing the effect of electrical stimulation of radial nerve afferents on masseter muscle activity. Spontaneous and evoked electrical responses of the masseter motor units were recorded with tungsten microelectrodes and analysed on computer. Results show that electrical stimulation of both radial nerves induces responses in single masseter motor units. The response patterns were characterized most frequently by excitation, but also by a sequence of excitation inhibition. The latency in masseter muscle responses were found to be lower in contralateral recordings: 18.26 +/- 4.04 msec (x +/- SD) compared with a latency of 24.3 +/- 5.25 msec in ipsilateral recordings. These observations confirm the hypothesis that somatosensory impulses eminating from the radial nerve participate in the postural control of the masseter muscle aimed at maintaining correct jaw position during forelimb displacement.