Afferent Limb of the Myotatic Reflex Arc

Abstract

WITHIN the past decade, the use of electronic methods has laid bare much of the mechanism underlying the myotatic, or stretch, reflex of mammalian striated muscle. Outstanding among these advances are Lloyd's demonstration of the monosynaptic nature of the myotatic reflex pathway, and his disclosure that fibres of large diameter (Group I fibres) constitute the afferent limb of this reflex arc¹. However, the specific receptor organ responsible for initiating the stretch reflex has so far eluded positive identification, though the balance of evidence suggests muscle spindles rather than Golgi tendon organs².