neuromuscular spindle

neuromuscular spindle

n.

A spindle-shaped end organ in skeletal muscle in which afferent nerve fibers terminate and which is sensitive to passive stretching of the muscle enclosing it.

---

neuromuscular spindle,

any one of a number of small bundles of delicate muscular fibers enclosed by a capsule, in which sensory nerve fibers terminate. The spindles vary in length from 0.8 to 5 mm, accommodating as many as four large myelinated nerve fibers that pierce the capsule and lose their myelin sheaths. The nerve fibers end as naked axons encircling the intrafusal fibers with flattened expansions or ovoid disks.

---

neuromuscular

pertaining to nerve terminations in muscles.

---

neuromuscular blockade

deliberate paralysis of the motor end-plates; important in veterinary surgery for immobilization. It is effected by the use of competitive (non-depolarizing) agents such as d-tubocurarine, and depolarizing agents such as succinylcholine.

neuromuscular blocking agents

drugs capable of producing neuromuscular blockade (above).

neuromuscular junction

the point of junction of a nerve fiber with the muscle that it innervates. It includes an area of folded sarcolemma of the muscle fiber, and an axon terminal located in the folds and containing vesicles of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Called also myoneural junction.

neuromuscular junction disease

examples are tick paralysis, botulism, myasthenia gravis.

neuromuscular paralysis

paralysis caused by malfunction at the neuromuscular junction, e.g. after administration of a neuromuscular blocking agent. The paralysis may be flaccid or spastic.

phase-II neuromuscular block

alteration of the end-plate threshold to depolarization by acetylcholine following prolonged use of a depolarization agent such as succinylcholine.

neuromuscular spindle

consists of muscle fiber, afferent and efferent nerve endings and connective tissue; maintains muscle tone via stretch reflex mediated through two neurons at spinal cord level.

neuromuscular transmission

release of acetylcholine from the nerve ending and activation of the receptors in the muscle end-plate.