Spectrum Analysis of Trigeminal Mesencephalic Neuron Activities During Chewing

Abstract

Various aspects of physical function of living beings have been solved because of recent advances in physiology. Many studies of living beings have been made in the engineering field as well. In this study, we analyzed the relation between the muscle activities and the information from the sensory receptors during chewing by the spectrum analysis. Trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus activities, myoelectric signals of masticatory muscle and jaw movements were recorded in freely moving rabbits during chewing, and analyzed by the bispectrum method. Taking the time-varying behavior of masseter muscle activity into account, there is a difference of spectrum between an opening stroke and a closing stroke. It seemed that the results were reflected in the functional differences of muscle spindle activity.