We have previously shown that injection of mustard oil or glutamate into rat temporomandibular joint (TMJ) tissues, an experimental model of acute TMJ injury, can reflexly induce a prolonged increase in the activity of both digastric (jaw-opener) and masseter (jaw-closer) muscles. In this study, GABA was applied to the TMJ region by itself or in combination with glutamate, and the magnitude of evoked jaw muscle electromyographic (EMG) activity was measured. Application of GABA alone to the TMJ region did not evoke significant jaw muscle EMG activity when compared with normal saline controls. In contrast, co-application of GABA and glutamate into the TMJ region decreased the magnitude of glutamate-evoked EMG activity. This GABA-mediated inhibition of glutamate-evoked EMG activity followed an inverse dose-response relationship with an estimated median inhibitory dose (ID50) of 0.17 +/- 0.05 (SE) micromol and 0.031 +/- 0.006 micromol for the digastric and masseter muscles, respectively. Co-administration of the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline (0.05 micromol) but not the GABAB receptor antagonist phaclofen (0.05 or 0. 15 micromol) reversed the suppressive actions of GABA, indicating that this action of GABA may be mediated by peripheral GABAA receptors located within the TMJ region. Our results suggest that activation of peripheral GABAA receptors located within the TMJ region could act to decrease the transmission of nociceptive information. (+info)
Halothane induces calcium release from human skinned masseter muscle fibers.
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BACKGROUND: An increase in masseter muscle tone in response to halothane or succinylcholine anesthesia (or both) can be observed in healthy persons. Thus the authors compared the fiber-type halothane and succinylcholine sensitivities in human masseter and vastus lateralis muscles. METHODS: Masseter and vastus lateralis muscle segments were obtained from 13 and 9 healthy persons, respectively. After chemical skinning of a single fiber and loading the sarcoplasmic reticulum with Ca++ 0.16 microM solution, halothane (0.5-4 vol% bubbled in the incubating solution), succinylcholine (0.1 microM to 10 mM), or both sensitivities were defined as the concentration inducing more than 10% of the maximum tension obtained by application of 16 microM Ca++ solution. The myofilament response to Ca++ was studied with and without halothane by observing the isometric tension of skinned masseter fibers challenged with increasing concentrations of Ca++. Muscle fiber type was determined by the difference in strontium-induced tension measurements. RESULTS: A significant difference in halothane sensitivity was found between type 1 masseter fibers (0.6+/-0.2 vol%; mean +/- SD) versus type 1 (2.7+/-0.6 vol%) and type 2 vastus lateralis muscle (2.5+/-0.4 vol%). Succinylcholine did not induce Ca++ release by the sarcoplasmic reticulum. In the masseter muscle, 0.75 vol% halothane decreased the maximal activated tension by 40% but did not change the Ca++ concentration that yields 50% of the maximal tension. CONCLUSIONS: The very low halothane threshold for Ca++ release from the masseter muscle usually could be counteracted by a direct negative inotropic effect on contractile proteins. However, halothane may increase the sensitivity of the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca++ release to succinylcholine-induced depolarization, leading to an increase in masseter muscle tone. (+info)
Jaw reflexes evoked by mechanical stimulation of teeth in humans.
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Jaw reflexes evoked by mechanical stimulation of teeth in humans. The reflex response of jaw muscles to mechanical stimulation of an upper incisor tooth was investigated using the surface electromyogram (SEMG) of the masseter muscle and the bite force. With a slowly rising stimulus, the reflex response obtained on the masseter SEMG showed three different patterns of reflex responses; sole excitation, sole inhibition, and inhibition followed by excitation. Simultaneously recorded bite force, however, exhibited mainly one reflex response pattern, a decrease followed by an increase in the net closing force. A rapidly rising stimulus also induced several different patterns of reflex responses in the masseter SEMG. When the simultaneously recorded bite force was analyzed, however, there was only one reflex response pattern, a decrease in the net closing force. Therefore, the reflex change in the masseter muscle is not a good representative of the net reflex response of all jaw muscles to mechanical tooth stimulation. The net response is best expressed by the averaged bite force. The averaged bite force records showed that when the stimulus force was developing rapidly, the periodontal reflex could reduce the bite force and hence protect the teeth and supporting tissues from damaging forces. It also can increase the bite force; this might help keep food between the teeth if the change in force rate is slow, especially when the initial bite force is low. (+info)
Muscle spindle afferent input to motoneurons in human masseter.
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The H-reflex response in large and small single motor units in human deep anterior masseter was studied to investigate the distribution of muscle spindle afferents onto masseter motoneurons. We found that only the larger units displayed H-reflex responses. This indicates preferential distribution of muscle spindle input onto large motoneurons or a skewed distribution of tonic presynaptic inhibitory mechanisms. (+info)
Jaw reflexes in healthy old people.
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OBJECTIVE: to investigate variations in the masseteric myotatic reflex (jaw-jerk) and the silent period from the 5th to the 9th decades of life. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: electromyographic data were recorded from the masseter muscle of the preferred chewing side by surface electrodes, using a computerized recording and analysis system. Chin taps were applied with a neurologist's hammer during mandibular rest and at 40% intercuspal clenching in 30 healthy people aged from 49 to 87 years. The influence of age, gender and silent period type were analysed by multiple regression analysis (P < or = 0.05). RESULTS: even in the very old subjects all reflexes were elicited, at least once. However, with increasing age the overall occurrence of the jaw-jerk reflex at rest (%) and its amplitude, at rest and at clench, were reduced, while its latency at rest was significantly increased (P < or = 0.05). No age effects were recorded in most parameters of the jaw-jerk reflex at clench and in the silent period. Women showed a tendency for reduced latencies of the jaw-jerk and the early silent period and increased silent period duration (P < or = 0.05). They also had a steeper decline in myotatic reflex activity, particularly at rest. CONCLUSION: simple masseteric reflex activity is maintained until very old age, particularly when elicited during contraction of the jaw elevators. (+info)
Behavior of jaw muscle spindle afferents during cortically induced rhythmic jaw movements in the anesthetized rabbit.
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The regulation by muscle spindles of jaw-closing muscle activity during mastication was evaluated in anesthetized rabbits. Simultaneous records were made of the discharges of muscle spindle units in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus, masseter and digastric muscle activity (electromyogram [EMG]), and jaw-movement parameters during cortically induced rhythmic jaw movements. One of three test strips of polyurethane foam, each of a different hardness, was inserted between the opposing molars during the jaw movements. The induced rhythmic jaw movements were crescent shaped and were divided into three phases: jaw-opening, jaw-closing, and power. The firing rate of muscle spindle units during each phase increased after strip application, with a tendency for the spindle discharge to be continuous throughout the entire chewing cycle. However, although the firing rate did not change during the jaw-opening and jaw-closing phases when the strip hardness was altered, the firing rate during the power phase increased in a hardness-dependent manner. In addition, the integrated EMG activity, the duration of the masseteric bursts, and the minimum gape increased with strip hardness. Spindle discharge during the power phase correlated with jaw-closing muscle activity, implying that the change in jaw-closing muscle activity associated with strip hardness was caused by increased spindle discharge produced through insertion of a test strip. The increased firing rate during the other two phases may be involved in a long-latency spindle feedback. This could contribute to matching the spatiotemporal pattern of the central pattern generator to that of the moving jaw. (+info)
Global field power helps separate respiratory-related evoked potentials from EMG contamination.
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Respiratory-related evoked potentials (RREPs) were stimulated by brief (200-ms) oral pressure pulses (-10 cmH(2)O) applied at the onset of inspiration in 12 subjects. Scalp potentials were measured at 30 sites on a rectangular grid that encompassed the right side of the scalp overlying the somatosensory cortex (SSC). Concurrent and significant masseter EMG (mEMG) activity was evoked by the pressure pulse, and we found correlational evidence for contamination of the RREP by the mEMG. The global field power (GFP) was used to provide a robust, reference-independent measure of SSC activation that provided partial insulation from mEMG contamination. The mean GFP from all subjects, reflective of afferent information from respiratory mechanoreceptors, showed a latency to onset of significant afferent SSC activity of approximately 25 ms. Scalp GFP activity during control experiments (absence of applied pressure) was significant and may reflect ongoing afferent activity from inspiration. (+info)
Contribution of supraglottal mechanoreceptor afferents to respiratory-related evoked potentials in humans.
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We used the global field power (GFP) to estimate the magnitude and timing of activation of the somatosensory cortex by respiratory mechanoreceptor afferents in normal humans in response to brief, negative oral pressure pulses applied at the onset of inspiration. We compared responses before (test) and after insertion of a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) that prevented supraglottal airway receptors from sensing the applied stimulus. Evoked potential responses without supraglottic stimulation were smaller, with delayed or missing features, than those with all receptors stimulated. Supraglottic receptors contribute about one-half of the GFP summed over the 100 ms poststimulus, and subglottal receptors, including those in the larynx, provide a GFP response approximately 38% above baseline. The most obvious difference between test and LMA responses occurred at 55 ms on average, when the LMA GFP lacked activation features seen in the test condition. We conclude that mechanoreceptors above the larynx are responsible for a major portion of the midlatency afferent information arriving at the somatosensory cortex in response to applied pressure pulses. (+info)