Proprioceptive motor control in fish respiration

Abstract

The response of single respiratory neurones in the medulla oblongata of carp to short twitches of individual respiratory muscles were analysed. The muscle contractions were obtained through automatic electrical stimulation and could be consistently elicited in a predetermined phase relation to the ventilatory cycle. The results show that, apart from nerve cells which take part in long-term processing of proprioceptive information from several sources, neurones also exist which possess the properties of elements of a peripheral proprioceptive control loop such as tension receptor neurones, length or stretch receptor neurones and motor neurones.