Surface electromyography reveals males have a slower patellar reflex than females

Surface electromyography reveals males have a slower patellar reflex than females

Abstract In humans the cross sectional area of spinal motor neurons at L3 is larger in males than in females. Since these contribute to the control of the quadriceps femoris muscle group and are involved in the patellar reflex (PR), gender differences in the PR are expected. We have investigated thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of electromyography and kinesiology Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 990 - 996
Main Authors: Vickery, Helen S.F, Smith, Paul A
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-12-2012
Subjects:
Action Potentials - physiology
Body Height - physiology
Electromyography
Female
Humans
Latency
Male
Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
Neural Conduction - physiology
Patellar Ligament - physiology
Patellar reflex
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Reflex, Stretch - physiology
Sex Characteristics
Sexual dimorphism
Size principle
Surface electromyography
Vastus lateralis
Young Adult
Size principle
Surface electromyography
Patellar reflex
Vastus lateralis
Sexual dimorphism
Latency
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Summary:Abstract In humans the cross sectional area of spinal motor neurons at L3 is larger in males than in females. Since these contribute to the control of the quadriceps femoris muscle group and are involved in the patellar reflex (PR), gender differences in the PR are expected. We have investigated this possibility using a group of 28 young subjects (14 male and 14 female) aged 20–22 years. The PR was quantified by the muscle compound action potential (MCAP) from the surface electromyogram (sEMG) of the vastus lateralis muscle. We found that the PR latency in females (17 ± 0.19 ms), was significantly ( p < 0.001) faster than in males (21 ± 0.37 ms). This 4 ms difference in latency could not be ascribed to differences in stature or thigh length. In conclusion, for the age range tested females posses a significantly faster patellar reflex than males. We suggest that the slower PR latency of male subjects may arise in part from their larger α-motorneurons: such that longer integration times are required for the summation of postsynaptic excitation to be sufficient to excite α-motorneurons.
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ISSN:1050-6411
1873-5711
DOI:10.1016/j.jelekin.2012.06.001