Using the information in the preceding questions, which pieces of anatomy may be responsible for causing the patient's knee-jerk reflex to not respond normally to the hammer hitting the tendon? Group of answer choices a)Patellar stretch receptor b)Afferent axon c)Interneuron in spine d)Efferent pathway e)Muscle f)Muscle fiber
Background:
A doctor conducted a patellar tendon (aka knee jerk - covered in lecture, assigned reading, and laboratory) reflex test on a patient. To do so, she tested the patient's knee-jerk reflex by hitting the patient's patellar tendon with a rubber hammer.For this patient, the doctor observed that hitting the tendon caused no knee jerk reflex at all, even after many attempts.Normally, a patient will kick her lower leg after the hammer hit on the tendon.However, the doctor could stimulate contraction of the quadriceps leg muscles using a stimulating electrode that applied a voltage across the muscle.
The doctor, with further analysis, determined that the receptor membranes of the stretch receptors were operating correctly.To do this, she carefully inserted an electrode into a stretch receptor's membrane, near to the location on the membrane where receptor proteins are located. She measured a change in voltage while hitting the tendon with the hammer.
With further testing, the doctor was able to conclude that the patient's skeletal muscle fibers were operating correctly. She collected data by inserting a probe into one skeletal muscle fiber in the quadriceps muscle. The probe was inserted into the fiber's cyctosol and was tuned to measure changes in ions. She made a measurement after the patellar tendon was hit by the hammer.
The doctor also used an electrode to depolarize membrane potential in a single muscle fiber membrane above threshold potential. She then measured the force, or tension, produced by the muscle fiber.
Q1) Multiple answers: Using the information in the preceding questions, which pieces of anatomy may be responsible for causing the patient's knee-jerk reflex to not respond normally to the hammer hitting the tendon?
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