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The muscle spindle is contractile in response to its own small-diameter, gamma motor (efferent) fibre. The receptors and the gamma fibres of the muscle spindle form a neuromuscular loop that ensures that tension on the spindle is maintained within its efficient operating limits. The excitability of the muscle spindle also can be influenced through other neural pathways that control the general...
Most of the intrafusal fibres of the muscle spindle receive specialized fusimotor nerve fibres. These are much smaller than the motor axons innervating extrafusal muscle fibres and are given the name gamma (γ) efferents. Because their only function is to regulate the behaviour of the muscle spindles, their stimulation produces no significant contraction of the muscle as a whole. The...
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