Clinical Aspects of Sensory Motor Integration

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XI

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2. Somatosensory Activity Relevant for Motor Output

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Tactile Afferent Input Influencing Motor Coordination During Precision Grip

      • R. S. Johansson, G. Westling

      Pages 3-13

   3. Neurophysiological Mechanisms Underlying Proprioceptive Sensations

      • S. C. Gandevia

      Pages 14-24

   4. Noxious Cutaneous Input and the Tactile Exploratory Function of the Skin of the Hand

      • J. Gybels, H. Adriaensen, H. O. Handwerker, J. Van Hees

      Pages 25-33

   5. New Aspects of the Role of Articular Receptors in Motor Control

      • H.-G. Schaible, R. F. Schmidt, W. D. Willis

      Pages 34-45

3. Central Motor Actions of Sensory Input

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 47-47

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   2. Exteroceptive Input to the Motor Cortex in Man

      • J. E. Desmedt

      Pages 49-57

   3. Reorganization of Projection from the Sensory Cortex to the Motor Cortex Following Deprivation of Thalamocortical Projection

      • H. Asanuma

      Pages 58-62

4. The Muscles and Their Neural Control

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 63-63

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   2. Properties of Motoneurones and Motor Units in Relation to Problems of Sensorimotor Integration

      • D. Kernell

      Pages 65-74

   3. Activity of Motoneurons in Man under Stationary Conditions

      • R. Dengler, W. Wolf

      Pages 75-79

   4. Automatic Sorting and Analysis of Multiunit EMG Recordings

      • W. Wolf, R. Dengler

      Pages 80-85

   5. Functional Implications of Structure and Synaptology of Motor Neurons in Motor Neuron Disease

      • S. Conradi

      Pages 86-90

   6. Muscle Thixotropy and Its Effect on Spindle and Reflex Responses to Stretch

      • K.-E. Hagbarth, J. V. Hägglund, M. Nordin, E. U. Wallin

      Pages 91-97

   7. Cytochemical Reevaluation of Location and Translocation of Acetylcholinesterase in the Motor End-Plate

      • G. W. Kreutzberg, L. Tóth

      Pages 98-111

   8. Control of Transmitter Release at Cholinergic and Glutamatergic Nerve Terminals

      • J. Dudel

      Pages 112-118

   9. Neurotrophism — Another Approach

      • W. W. Hofmann

      Pages 119-134

   10. Persistent Depolarization of Muscle Fibers: A Common Cause of Weakness in Muscle Disorders

       • F. Lehmann-Horn, G. Küther

       Pages 135-140

5. Convergence on the Final Common Path

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 141-141

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The ability to use tools skillfully is generally regarded as one of the major achievements in the evolutionary development of the human nervous system. It is possible for controlled movements of muscles to be executed only if sensory information is integrated into complex neural circuits at various hierarchical levels. The chapters in this volume deal with basic and clinical aspects of integrative processing of sensory and motor activities. New findings emphasize the important influence of somatosensory activity such as tactile, proprioceptive, noxious cutaneous, and articular input on motor output. Furthermore, recordings of evoked potentials as well as unit recordings indicate that sensory and cortical activities are highly interrelated. Control of muscles by motoneurons is exerted both electrically and chemically. Disturbed muscle-motoneuron interaction is reflected in ultrastructural motoneuron morphology and may be of importance in the pathogenesis of motoneuron disease. Long loop reflex testing under various pathological conditions provides insight into disturbed sensory motor circuitry in humans. Electrophysiological recording as well as neurochemical and im­ munohistochemical studies elucidate the neural circuitry of basal ganglia and their neural connections, thus providing improved therapeutic concepts. The role of the thalamus and thalamocortical connections in sensory motor processing is of particular interest, because motor disturbances such as tremor or dystonia can be effectively relieved by stereotaxic interventions at the subthalamic or thalamic level.

• Parkinson
• cortex
• muscle
• neurons
• neuropeptides
• physiology

• Neurologische Klinik und Poliklinik, Technischen Universität München, München 80, Germany

  Albrecht Struppler, Adolf Weindl

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