THE REGULATION OF PRESYNAPTIC INHIBITION DURING COCONTRACTION OF ANTAGONISTIC MUSCLES IN MAN

1. The size of the soleus, tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius H reflexes were measured at different levels of EMG activity in ankle plantar- and dorsiflexors. At similar levels of EMG activity in the agonist muscle, the soleus and tibialis anterior H reflexes were found to be smaller during co-contraction than during an isolated agonist contraction. In contrast to this, the medial gastrocnemius H reflex had the same size during co-contraction as during an isolated plantarflexion at comparable EMG levels. 2. Peaks occurred at monosynaptic reflex latency in the post-stimulus time histogram (PSTH) of firing of soleus and tibialis anterior motor units following stimulation of their respective motor nerves. These homonymous Ia peaks were found to be smaller during co-contraction than during isolated agonist contraction, whereas that of medial gastrocnemius motor units was unchanged. As the monosynaptic peak in the PSTH may give an indirect measure of the size of the monosynaptic EPSP in the motoneurone, it is suggested that these findings reflect a differential control of presynaptic inhibition of soleus and tibialis anterior motor units with respect to medial gastrocnemius motor units. 3. The monosynaptic la facilitation of the soleus H reflex evoked by a stimulation of the femoral nerve, was also found to be smaller during co-contraction of tibialis anterior and soleus than during isolated plantarflexion. This suggests that presynaptic inhibition of heteronymous la fibres from the quadriceps muscle projecting to soleus motoneurones is regulated in the same way as presynaptic inhibition of homonymous Ia fibres during co-contraction. 4. The femoral nerve-induced monosynaptic facilitation of the soleus H reflex was found to decrease with increasing tonic levels of both co-contraction and isolated dorsi- and plantarflexion. The amount of facilitation decreased to the same degree with increasing levels of dorsiflexion and co-contraction. For the same level of EMG in the dorsiflexors there was thus no difference in the amount of facilitation whether the dorsiflexors were activated separately or in a co-contraction. 5. Whereas the soleus H reflex increased in size 50 ms prior to the onset of a dynamic plantarflexion, it did not change prior to the onset of a co-contraction. The femoral nerve-induced facilitation increased prior to the plantarflexion, but decreased prior to the co-contraction. This suggests that the increase of presynaptic inhibition seen during co-contraction is of a central origin. 6. It is suggested that the increase of presynaptic inhibition observed during co-contraction may be instrumental in avoiding oscillations in the agonist-antagonist system. The lack of presynaptic inhibition of medial gastrocnemius Ia afferents is discussed in relation to its possible contribution to the ankle joint stiffness.