# Functional Role of Golgi tendon organ feedback in health and disease

> **NIH NIH K01** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $129,060

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Proprioceptive feedback is known to have a role in coordinating muscle activity throughout the limb.
Disruption in feedback after stroke and spinal cord injury contributes to abnormal interjoint coordination. Thus,
the role of specific sensory circuits, if known and accessible for therapeutic manipulation, holds great promise
for treating a range of motor impairments. Research has focused on the role of length dependent feedback
from muscle spindles (i.e. stretch & H-reflex), and its use as a therapeutic target through operant conditioning.
Less is known about force dependent feedback from Golgi tendon organs (GTOs), but current evidence
suggests force feedback could provide an additional and potentially more effective therapeutic option for
treating coordination impairments. GTO circuits primarily link muscles spanning different joints implying a
critical role in whole limb coordination. Moreover, the strength of force feedback between muscles, and even
sign, is believed to vary in a task-dependent way and as such could potentially be targeted to reduce or
increase motor output of muscles. However, current approaches to study GTOs are invasive and restricted to
decerebrate cats, preventing studies examining their functional role during natural behaviors, or evaluation in
human subjects. Nerve stimulation is used to study intermuscular circuitry in humans, but this approach is
unable to selectively activate GTO circuits and many nerves are not accessible for stimulation. We propose to
use muscle stimulation evoked contractions, a selective stimulus for GTOs that we have validated in the cat, to
noninvasively study the strength of intermuscular force feedback in humans. Aim 1 will determine the unique
contribution of GTO feedback to intermuscular inhibitory feedback while sitting by comparing the influence of
femoral nerve and quadriceps muscle stimulation onto ongoing soleus EMG and the H-reflex. GTO feedback
will be compared between persons with stroke and spinal cord injury with age-matched controls to identify
effects of altered descending control on GTO feedback that may contribute to abnormal interjoint coordination
(Aim 2). Since task-dependent modulation of proprioceptive feedback is essential for adapting to changing task
demands, GTO feedback between lower limb muscles will be compared while sitting and standing (Aim 3). The
new knowledge from this proposal will be a first step toward identifying the functional role and contribution of
GTO feedback to motor impairments. The candidate’s long-term goal is to elucidate the unique functional role
of GTO feedback and use neuromodulation techniques to treat movement impairments in people with
neurologic conditions. The PI is a physical therapist with prior training using biomechanical tools to evaluate
human motion and studying proprioceptive feedback circuits in the decerebrate cat. The K01 training plan will
prepare the PI with training in human neurophysiological m...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10683161
- **Project number:** 5K01HD100588-05
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Mark A Lyle
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $129,060
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-19 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10683161

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10683161, Functional Role of Golgi tendon organ feedback in health and disease (5K01HD100588-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10683161. Licensed CC0.

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