How flexible is the neural control of muscle properties?

Abstract

Since this classic report, there have been numerous studies which have essentially verified these initial findings. Many of the subsequent papers have addressed two major questions regarding the phenomenon of neural control of muscle properties. First, how does the nervous system exert its control over certain physiological and biochemical properties? Three principal means of neuronal control have been proposed: (1) the pattern (quality) of impulses; (2) the total number (quantity) of impulses; and, (3) a neurotrophic (nonactivity-related) mechanism (Buller et al. 1960). All three possibilities remain viable today. However, the most promising evidence suggests that impulse frequency (Salmons & Sreter, 1976) and quantity of impulses (Sreter, Pinter, Jolesz & Mabuchi, 1982; Jolesz & Sreter, 1981) could be responsible, at least in part, for differences in the speed-related properties of slow and fast muscles.