Concept
Version 15
Created by Boundless
Spinal Reflexes
Golgi tendon organ
The Golgi tendon organ, responsible for the Golgi tendon reflex, is diagrammed with its typical position in a muscle (left), neuronal connections in spinal cord (middle), and expanded schematic (right). The tendon organ is a stretch receptor that signals the amount of force on the muscle and protects the muscle from excessively heavy loads by causing the muscle to relax and drop the load.
The Golgi tendon organ, responsible for the Golgi tendon reflex, is diagrammed here. The first picture shows its typical position in a muscle. The next picture shows its neuronal connections in the spinal cord. The last picture is, expanded schematic of the tendon organ. The tendon organ is a stretch receptor that signals the amount of force on the muscle and protects the muscle from excessively heavy loads by causing the muscle to relax and drop the load.
Source
Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:
"Tendon organ model."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tendon_organ_model.jpg
Wikipedia
Public domain.