Which statement about the Golgi tendon organ and the inverse stretch reflex is correct?

• A It lies in parallel with extrafusal fibers and responds primarily to muscle length
• B It becomes silent during active contraction because the tendon is unloaded
• C Its afferents are Ia fibers making monosynaptic excitatory connections with homonymous motor neurons
• D Its Ib afferents mediate disynaptic autogenic inhibition of the homonymous alpha motor neurons ✓

Explanation

The Golgi tendon organ sits in series with muscle fibers at the musculotendinous junction and encodes force rather than length. Its Ib afferents enter the cord and synapse on an inhibitory interneuron, which suppresses homonymous alpha motor neurons: the disynaptic autogenic inhibitory reflex that limits excessive tension. Option A describes the muscle spindle, which lies in parallel and signals length, and option B is wrong because contraction loads the tendon and activates the organ strongly.

Reference: Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology, 26th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.