Renshaw inhibition
The Renshaw inhibition was named after the American neurophysiologist Birdsey Renshaw (1911–1948) and describes two different phenomena:
Perceptual Psychology
In perceptual psychology , the Renshaw inhibition describes an optical effect. Due to the mutual inhibition of retinal cells z. B. When looking at two intersecting lines for a long time, the intersection of the lines is considerably darker.
This effect is caused by the Renshaw cells . These are interneurons that are activated by axon collaterals (branches) of the neurons and inhibit them in reverse.
Neurophysiology
Renshaw interneurons are also found in the spinal cord . They serve to slow down the activity of the motor neurons and thus prevent an excessive response to a stimulus. Turning off this inhibition, e.g. B. in the context of a tetanus disease (= tetanus ) then leads to increased motor activity readiness: excessive reflexes even with the smallest stimuli, trismus (jaw clamp), opisthotonus (hyperextension of the trunk)
Individual evidence
- ^ Birdsey Renshaw: Central effects of centripetal impulses in axons of spinal ventral roots. In: Journal of Neurophysiology. Volume 9, 1946, pp. 190-205.