Comment on Conduction Velocity in Muscle and Cutaneous Nerve Afferents in Humans

Abstract

The conduction velocities in muscle and cutaneous nerve afferents of cats are considerably faster than those of comparable axons in humans. Texts on human physiology and neurophysiology tend to show conduction velocities and diameters derived from studies on cats, without stating that those values are not applicable to humans. Apart from showing the need for a clearer attribution of the sources of data, the differences raise interesting questions about the functional significance of the relatively small diameters and low conduction velocities of muscle and cutaneous nerve afferents in humans.

Key Words:

• afferent nerve
• conduction velocity
• human