The Deployment of Sensory Nerve Endings at the Knee Joint of the Cat.

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Summary. Nerve impulses in the medial articular nerve to the knee joint of the cat have been studied. The responses of sensory nerve endings located in the knee to position and movement of the tibia are described. The endings are slowly adapting and seem to be arranged sothat each has an arc of maximum sensitivity covering a few degrees of angular movement but these ranges are different for individual endings. The significance of this is discussed. The medial femoro‐tibial and the patellar ligaments were found to be equipped with endings which signalled tension. The responses of these endings to steady tensions were measured. An increased intracapsular pressure was produced by injecting fluid into the synovial cavity. Simultaneous recordings of pressure and impulse traffic show that a raised pressure was a potent stimulus to slowly adapting endings in the capsule. The articular surfaces and the synovial membrane were found insensitive to moderate mechanical and thermal stimulation.