Morphology of muscle spindles in the human popliteus muscle. Evidence of a possible monitoring role of the popliteus muscle in the locked knee joint?
The mechanical events leading to locking of the human knee joint are well described in the literature, but there appears to be little information on the source of afferent feedback needed to monitor the locked joint. Human fetal popliteus muscles were studied by histological and graphic reconstruction techniques. The results showed that the muscle contained many muscle spindles. The arrangement of these receptors into complex and tandem forms seems to support the view that the popliteus muscle is capable of subserving kinaesthesia.
Amonoo-Kuofi
H S
HS
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
D005333:Fetus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D007717:Knee / Q000294:innervation*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology; D009470:Muscle Spindles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology