Journal of Neurophysiology, Vol 41, Issue 1 150-156, Copyright © 1978 by APS
Response of cutaneous hair and field mechanoreceptors in cat to paired mechanical stimuli
R. P. Tuckett
1. While studying hair- and field-receptor responses to paired mechanical
pulses, I observed that in approximately half the receptors the recovery of
excitability following generation of an impulse took the form of a damped
oscillation. 2. Oscillations could be modified or eliminated by changing
the conditions of stimulation: 1) there were no oscillations with an
electrical conditioning stimulus; 2) oscillations occurred only when both
mechanical pulses were delivered to the surface of the skin, not when the
conditioning pulse was given to a hair shaft, and only when both pulses
affected the same part of the receptive field; 3) oscillation was reduced
by increasing the duration of the pulses; 4) oscillation was enhanced by
increasing the distance between the stimulator and the nerve terminal; and
5) maxima on the recovery curve became minima and vice versa when the
direction of the conditioning pulse was changed. 3. It was concluded that
recovery curve oscillations were due not to the type of hair or field
receptor being stimulated, but to the conditions of stimulation. The timing
of the oscillations was a function of the duration of the mechanical pulse.
Furthermore, interaction was additive when the interval between stimuli was
an even multiple of the pulse width. This resulted in a minimal point on
the recovery curve. At odd multiples of the pulse width, the converse
resulted. The evidence suggests that waves, set up in the skin by the
paired mechanical pulses, interact and cause the recovery curve
oscillations. Such waves could be set up by a variety of stimuli that
contact the skin naturally.
