Association of tendon organs with spindles in muscles of the cat's leg

The incidence and patterns of association of tendon organs (TO's) with muscle spindles was studied in serial histological sections of the extensor digitorum brevis (EDB) muscles of an adult cat. Some observations were obtained from the medial gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of a second cat, and the EDB muscle of a two-toed sloth. An intimate relation of a TO to a nearby spindle, wherein the “spindle tendon” passes alongside the TO to attach to the aponeurosis, was found for 50% of cat EDB TO's, and 20 to 25% of the TO's in the other muscles. In cat EDB samples both TO's and spindles found in “tendon organ-spindle dyads” had larger cross-sectional areas at the equator than “solitary” units, and dyad TO's received the attachments of more extrafusal fibers than did solitary TO's. A number of the “solitary” TO's were found to be in line at a greater distance with spindles that lay along the extrafusal fibers inserting onto the TO. The possible developmental and functional significance of these findings is discussed.