Transfer Functions of the Slowly Adapting Stretch Receptor Organ of Crustacea

The slowly adapting crustacean stretch receptor organ (Alexandrowicz, 1951) is likely to be a system simple enough to attempt a precise description of its input-output relations. It can easily be isolated, and in this condition it is an open-loop system. The rate of impulse activity in response to a steady stretch is maintained for hours. Moreover, a sinusoidal input can readily be superimposed on a steady stretch, and therefore a study of the dynamics of the system can be performed.