title: Sensory components of bite-force response in the rat.
abstract: The relative roles of proprioceptive input from the muscles of mastication and the periodontal pressure receptor input from membranes surrounding upper and lower incisors were assessed in animals trained to bite with peak forces within certain bands of forces for water reinforcement. Measures of performance obtained from animals before and after chronic bilateral lesions were made in the mesencephalic nucleus of the trigeminal nerve suggest that proprioceptive input does not play a major role in the differentiation of bite force. However, measures of performance obtained before and after acute peripheral blocking of input from the pressure receptors indicate that these pressure receptors are the main source of input used in bite-force differentiation.
mesh_terms: D000772:Anesthesia, Local; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D007180:Incisor / Q000294:innervation; D008297:Male; D008410:Masticatory Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D010519:Periodontium / Q000294:innervation*; D011311:Pressoreceptors / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D011343:Procaine; D011434:Proprioception; D051381:Rats; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011343:Procaine