CONDUCTION RATES AND DORSAL ROOT INFLOW OF SENSORY FIBERS FROM THE KNEE JOINT OF THE CAT

Abstract

The branches of the tibial, saphenous and obturator nerves supplying the knee joint of the cat were studied by electrophysiologic methods. It was detd. that myelinated fibers in these nerves are A fibers, that their conduction rates seem to correspond with the ranges of fiber diams. usually found in these nerves, and that they are afferent in nature. They enter the spinal cord through the 5th, 6th, and 7th lumbar dorsal roots, and sometimes the 1st sacral as well. There is no evidence that any of the fibers are motor, but the probability that many of the nonmyelinated fibers are vasomotor is not eliminated. Finally, it is presumed that the large spontaneous potentials which can be recorded arise from stimulation of Ruffini-type endings in the posterior capsule, because pressure in this region increases the frequency of the potentials.