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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 580/2/649    most recent jphysiol.2006.123075v2 jphysiol.2006.123075v1 Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Aimonetti, J.-M. Articles by Ribot-Ciscar, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Aimonetti, J.-M. Articles by Ribot-Ciscar, E. Related Collections Integrative

¹ Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Humaine, UMR 6149, Aix-Marseille Université – CNRS, Marseille, France

The aim of this study was to analyse the directional coding of two-dimensional limb movements by cutaneous afferents from skin areas covering a multidirectional joint, the ankle. The activity of 89 cutaneous afferents was recorded in the common peroneal nerve, and the mean discharge frequency of each unit was measured during the outward phase of ramp and hold movements imposed in 16 different directions. Forty-two afferents responded to the movements in the following decreasing order (SA2, n = 24/27; FA2, n = 13/17; FA1, n = 3/24; SA1, n = 2/21). All the units activated responded to a specific range of directions, defining their ‘preferred sector’, within which their response peaked in a given direction, their ‘preferred direction’. Based on the distribution of the preferred directions, two populations of afferents, and hence two skin areas were defined: the anterior and the external lateral parts of the leg. As the directional tuning of each population was cosine shaped, the neuronal population vector model was applied and found to efficiently describe the movement direction encoded by cutaneous afferents, as it has been previously reported for muscle afferents. The responses of cutaneous afferents were then considered with respect to those of the afferents from the underlying muscles, which were previously investigated, and an almost perfect matching of directional sensitivity was observed. It is suggested that the common movement-encoding characteristics exhibited by cutaneous and muscle afferents, as early as the peripheral level, may facilitate the central co-processing of their feedbacks subserving kinaesthesia.

(Received 18 October 2006; accepted after revision 18 January 2007; first published online 25 January 2007)
Corresponding author J.-M. Aimonetti: Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Humaine. UMR 6149 Université de Provence – CNRS Pôle 3C – Case B Centre St Charles 3 Place Victor Hugo 13331 Marseille Cedex 03 France.  Email: aimon{at}up.univ-mrs.fr

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