01726nas a2200217   4500008004100000022001400041245009000055210006900145260001200214300001400226490000600240520110600246653001301352653001101365653001501376653001201391653001801403653001901421100002101440856004701461       1985                        eng d  a0272-434000aAdaptive plasticity in the spinal stretch reflex: an accessible substrate of memory?.0 aAdaptive plasticity in the spinal stretch reflex an accessible s  c06/1985  a147–1650 v53 aThe study of the substrates of memory in higher vertebrates is one of the major problems of neurobiology. A simple and technically accessible experimental model is needed. Recent studies have demonstrated long-term adaptive plasticity, a form of memory, in the spinal stretch reflex (SSR). The SSR is due largely to a two-neuron monosynaptic arc, the simplest, best-defined, and most accessible pathway in the primate central nervous system (CNS). Monkeys can slowly change SSR amplitude without a change in initial muscle length or alpha motoneuron tone, when reward is made contingent on amplitude. Change occurs over weeks and months and persists for long periods. It is relatively specific to the agonist muscle and affects movement. The salient features of SSR adaptive plasticity, combined with clinical and laboratory evidence indicating spinal cord capacity for intrinsic change, suggest that SSR change eventually involves persistent segmental alteration. If this is the case, SSR plasticity should be a powerful model for studying the neuronal and synaptic substrates of memory in a primate.10aLearning10aMemory10aplasticity10aprimate10aspinal reflex10astretch reflex1 aWolpaw, Jonathan  uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3161616