Reader TTS

ABSTRACT THE most attractive theory of the silent period of muscle action potentials is that of Matthews1,2 (following a speculation of Fulton and Pi-Suñer3). In his pioneer work on single

nerve endings in muscle, he showed that during a twitch, at a time corresponding to the silent period, there was a pause in sensory discharge from the muscle spindles—the endings believed

responsible for exciting postural muscular contractions through the stretch reflex. This cessation of excitatory impulses clearly explained the silent period in the motor discharge. Matthews

pointed out that the arrangement of muscle spindles in parallel with the main contractile fibres (which is responsible for the pause during a twitch) formed a self-regulating device, or

servo-mechanism, for controlling tonic contraction of the muscle. Increased load or the onset of muscular fatigue would cause elongation of the spindles, thereby reflexly calling up a

greater contraction of the muscle tending to restore the system to its original length. The classical type of stretch reflex experiment discloses the static characteristics of the servo; the

silent period is its transient response. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access

through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 51 print issues and online access $199.00 per year only $3.90 per issue Learn more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink *

Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional

subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ELECTROMYOGRAPHY OF THE MUSCLE SPINDLE Article Open access 10 March 2022 THE BOOST OF FORCE IN

UNFUSED TETANIC CONTRACTIONS AT VARIABLE INTERPULSE INTERVALS IN FAST MOTOR UNITS OF THE RAT MEDIAL GASTROCNEMIUS Article Open access 21 January 2025 CA2+ AND FORCE DURING DYNAMIC

CONTRACTIONS IN MOUSE INTACT SKELETAL MUSCLE FIBERS Article Open access 06 January 2024 REFERENCES * Matthews, B. H. C., _J. Physiol._, 72, 153 (1931). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  *

Matthews, B. H. C., _J. Physiol._, 78, 1 (1933). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Fulton, J. F., and Pi-Suñer, J., _Amer. J. Physiol._, 83, 554 (1928). Google Scholar  * Leksell, L., _Acta

Physiol. Scand._, 10, Supp. 31 (1945). Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Neurological Research Unit, Medical Research Council, National Hospital for Nervous

Diseases, Queen Square, London, W.C.1 P. A. MERTON Authors * P. A. MERTON View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints

and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE MERTON, P. Significance of the ‘Silent Period’ of Muscles. _Nature_ 166, 733–734 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/166733a0 Download

citation * Issue Date: 28 October 1950 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/166733a0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable

link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative