EXCITABILITY OF THE MEMBRANE OF LUMBER MOTOR NEURONS AND NATURAL SLEEP IN THE CAT

Abstract

Excitability of the single motor neuron was tested by stimulating directly the lumbar cord in unrestrained and unanesthetized cats, and was compared between sleeps with slow wave and spindle burst in eeg (slow wave sleep) and sleep with low voltage fast wave in eeg (activated sleep). During the latter, the threshold to elicit the single motor unit by the direct excitation of the motor neuron increased in both hind-limb flexors and extensors.