SavedAdd your journal

Journals / Akdeniz Tıp Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 12 Sayı: 1

Various Proprioceptors that Emerged During the Evolutionary Process in Animals

Evrimsel Süreç Boyunca Ortaya Çıkan Çeşitli Propriyoseptörler

Enes Yeşil(ANKARA ÜNİVERSİTESİ, ANKARA TIP FAKÜLTESİ)0009-0005-6677-6930
Osman Barış Ünver(ANKARA ÜNİVERSİTESİ, ANKARA TIP FAKÜLTESİ)0000-0002-7917-5051
Erhan Nalçacı(ANKARA ÜNİVERSİTESİ, ANKARA TIP FAKÜLTESİ)0000-0002-5678-0363
Pages
—
Publication Date
2026-03-04
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The study of these proprioceptive mechanisms is important for understanding the evolution of proprioceptive systems in the extremities.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:ABSTRACT Coordination of movement is essential for performing activities of daily living.
📊
Key Findings & Data:Over the last 500 million years, vertebrates have evolved a great diversity of limbs.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:The study of these proprioceptive mechanisms is important for understanding the evolution of proprioceptive systems in the extremities.
🔬Design:Derleme
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Biyolojik Evrim · Propriyosepsiyon · Kas iğciği

Abstract

ABSTRACT Coordination of movement is essential for performing activities of daily living. Proprioception, the sense of body position and movement in space, is usually not conscious and is critical for the control of movement in humans. Nearly all mobile animals require proprioceptive feedback for the control of the body. Over the last 500 million years, vertebrates have evolved a great diversity of limbs. In nature, animals with limbs may have been exposed to similar constraints on proprioceptive sensation, which may have led to similar evolutionary processes. As a result of these constraints, various proprioceptors with similar characteristics are found in different species, some of which have evolved from a common ancestral structure and some of which have developed as a result of a different process in a separate branch of the evolutionary tree. The discovery of homologous proprioceptive structures in fish helps us to understand the functional change that proprioceptive sense underwent during the transition from aquatic to terrestrial life, while the discovery of analogous proprioceptive structures in insects allows us to understand the similar characteristics of limbed animals that they have acquired in the evolutionary process in response to similar constraints and that serve as an example of convergent evolution. Over millions of years of evolutionary time, various modifications have occurred that have produced the morphological and functional diversity of proprioceptors seen throughout the animal kingdom. The study of these proprioceptive mechanisms is important for understanding the evolution of proprioceptive systems in the extremities.

Özet

ÖZ Günlük yaşam aktivitelerinin yapılabilmesi için hareketin eşgüdümü elzemdir. Uzayda vücut pozisyon ve hareket duyusu olan propriyosepsiyon genellikle bilinçli değildir ve hareketin kontrolü için insanlarda kritik bir öneme sahiptir. Neredeyse tüm hareketli hayvanlarda vücudun kontrolü için propriyoseptif geri bildirime gereksinim duyulur. Son 500 milyon yılda omurgalılarda büyük bir çeşitlilikte uzuvların evrimleştiği gözlenmektedir. Doğada ekstremiteli hayvanların propriyoseptif duyuyla ilgili benzeşen kısıtlılıklara (seçilim baskılarına) maruz kalması benzer evrimsel çözümlere yol açmış olabilir. Bu kısıtlılıklar sonucu, farklı türlerde benzer özellikler gösteren kimi ortak bir atasal yapıdan evrimleşmiş, kimi ise evrim ağacının ayrı bir dalında farklı bir süreç (konvergent evrim) sonucu gelişmiş çeşitli propriyoseptörlere rastlanmaktadır. Balıklardaki homolog propriyoseptif yapıların keşfi propriyoseptif duyunun sudaki yaşamdan karasal yaşama geçişte uğradığı işlevsel değişimi kavramamıza yardımcı olurken, böceklerdeki analog propriyoseptif yapıların keşfi ise ekstremiteli hayvanların benzeşen kısıtlılıklara karşı evrimsel süreçte kazandıkları ve konvergent evrime bir örnek teşkil eden benzer özelliklerini anlamamızı sağlar. Milyonlarca yıllık evrimsel süreçte hayvanlar âlemi boyunca görülen morfolojik ve işlevsel propriyoseptör çeşitliliğini oluşturan çeşitli modifikasyonlar meydana gelmiştir. Bu propriyoseptif mekanizmaların çalışılması ekstremitelerdeki propriyoseptif sistemlerin evriminin anlaşılmasında önem taşımaktadır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Yeşil, E., Ünver, O. B., Nalçacı, E. (2026). Various Proprioceptors that Emerged During the Evolutionary Process in Animals. Akdeniz Tıp Dergisi, Cilt: 12 Sayı: 1. https://doi.org/10.53394/akd.1545914

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (92)

  1. Banks RW. Muscle Spindles and Tendon Organs. In: Caplan MJ, ed. Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences. Rev ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier 2018:1-10.
  2. de Nooij JC, Zampieri N. The making of a proprioceptor: a tale of two identities. Trends Neurosci 2023; 46(12):1083-94.
  3. Tuthill JC, Azim E. Proprioception. Curr Biol 2018; 28(5):R194-R203.
  4. Sherrington CS. On The Proprio-Ceptive System, Especially In Its Reflex Aspect. Brain 1907; 29(4):467–82.
  5. Levine DN. Sherrington's "The Integrative action of the nervous system": a centennial appraisal. J Neurol Sci 2007; 253(1-2):1-6.
  6. Proske U, Gandevia SC. The proprioceptive senses: their roles in signaling body shape, body position and movement, and muscle force. Physiol Rev 2012; 92(4):1651-97.
  7. Inglis JT, Kennedy PM, Wells C, Chua R. The role of cutaneous receptors in the foot. Adv Exp Med Biol 2002; 508:111-7.
  8. Boron WF, Boulpaep EL. Medical physiology, 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Elsevier, 2017.
  9. Barrett KE, Barman SM, Boitano S, Brooks HL. Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology, 25th ed. New York, McGraw Hill Professional, 2015.
  10. Ergen E, Ulkar B, Eraslan A. Proprioception and Coordination. Turkish Journal of Sports Medicine 2007; 42:57-83.
  11. Liutsko LN. Proprioception as a basis for individual differences. Psychology in Russia: State of Art 2013; 6(3):107.
  12. Dıraçoğlu D, Aydın R, Başkent A. Sağlıklı Kişilerde ve Diz Osteoartritli Hastalarda Propriosepsiyon Duyusunun Karşılaştırılması. Türkiye Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Dergisi 2005; 51(3):90-93.
  13. Unver OB, Nalçacı E, Arı F, Kar İ. A Test Developed to Evaluate Movement-Position Modality of Proprioception: Kinesthetic Target Position Estimation Test. Acta Physiologica 2023; 240(S730):96.
  14. Kargo WJ, Giszter SF. Afferent roles in hindlimb wipe-reflex trajectories: free-limb kinematics and motor patterns. J Neurophysiol 2000; 83(3):1480-501.
  15. Akay T, Tourtellotte WG, Arber S, Jessell TM. Degradation of mouse locomotor pattern in the absence of proprioceptive sensory feedback. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111(47):16877-82.
  16. Takeoka A, Arber S. Functional Local Proprioceptive Feedback Circuits Initiate and Maintain Locomotor Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury. Cell Rep 2019; 27(1):71-85.
  17. English AW. Interlimb coordination during stepping in the cat: effects of dorsal column section. J Neurophysiol 1980; 44(2):270-9.
  18. English AW. Interlimb coordination during stepping in the cat: the role of the dorsal spinocerebellar tract. Exp Neurol 1985; 87(1):96-108.
  19. Gordon JC, Holt NC, Biewener A, Daley MA. Tuning of feedforward control enables stable muscle force-length dynamics after loss of autogenic proprioceptive feedback. Elife 2020; 9:e53908.
  20. Lajoie Y, Teasdale N, Cole JD, Burnett M, Bard C, Fleury M, Forget R, Paillard J, Lamarre Y. Gait of a deafferented subject without large myelinated sensory fibers below the neck. Neurology 1996; 47(1):109-15.
  21. Santuz A, Akay T. Muscle spindles and their role in maintaining robust locomotion. J Physiol 2023; 601(2):275-85.
  22. Hale ME. Evolution of touch and proprioception of the limbs: Insights from fish and humans. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2021; 71:37-43.
  23. Maier A. The avian muscle spindle. Anatomy and Embryology 1992; 186(1):1-25.
  24. Maeda N, Miyoshi S, Toh H. First observation of a muscle spindle in fish. Nature 1983; 302(5903):61-2.
  25. Banks RW, Harker DW, Stacey MJ. A study of mammalian intrafusal muscle fibres using a combined histochemical and ultrastructural technique. J Anat 1977; 123(Pt 3):783-96.
  26. Ovalle WK. Fine structure of the avian muscle spindle capsule. Cell Tissue Res 1976; 166(3):285-98.
  27. Adem SS, Elp M. Muscle Spindle and Comparison of Fish Muscle Spindle with Other Vertebrates. Alınteri Zirai Bilimler Dergisi 2017; 32(2):113–7.
  28. Fitz-Ritson D. The anatomy and physiology of the muscle spindle, and its role in posture and movement: a review. J Can Chiropr Assoc 1982; 26(4):144–50.
  29. Hulliger M. The mammalian muscle spindle and its central control. Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol 1984; 101:1-110.
  30. Adal Mn, Barker D. Intramuscular branching of fusimotor fibres. J Physiol 1965; 177(2):288-99.
  31. Shneider NA, Brown MN, Smith CA, Pickel J, Alvarez FJ. Gamma motor neurons express distinct genetic markers at birth and require muscle spindle-derived GDNF for postnatal survival. Neural Dev 2009; 4:42.
  32. Stifani N. Motor neurons and the generation of spinal motor neuron diversity. Front Cell Neurosci 2014; 8:293.
  33. Banks RW, Hulliger M, Saed HH, Stacey MJ. A comparative analysis of the encapsulated end-organs of mammalian skeletal muscles and of their sensory nerve endings. J Anat 2009; 214(6):859-87.
  34. Jami L. Golgi tendon organs in mammalian skeletal muscle: functional properties and central actions. Physiol Rev 1992; 72(3):623-66.
  35. Scott JJA. The Golgi Tendon Organ. In: Dyck PJ, Thomas PK, eds. Peripheral neuropathy. 4th ed. Saunders, Philadelphia: Elsevier eBooks 2005:151–61.
  36. Butler AA, Héroux ME, Gandevia SC. Body ownership and a new proprioceptive role for muscle spindles. Acta Physiol (Oxf) 2017; 220(1):19-27.
  37. Zelená J. The Morphogenetic Influence of Innervation on the Ontogenetic Development of Muscle-spindles. Development 1957; 5(3):283–92.
  38. Gartych M, Jackowiak H, Bukowska D, Celichowski J. Evaluating Sexual Dimorphism of the Muscle Spindles and Intrafusal Muscle Fibers in the Medial Gastrocnemius of Male and Female Rats. Front Neuroanat 2021; 15:734555.
  39. Biewener AA, Patek SN (eds): Animal locomotion, 2nd ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018.
  40. Macefield VG, Knellwolf TP. Functional properties of human muscle spindles. J Neurophysiol 2018; 120(2):452-67.
  41. Banks R, Stacey M. Quantitative Studies on Mammalian Muscle Spindles and their Sensory Innervation. In: Hnik P, Soukup T, Vejsada R, Zelena J, eds. Mechanoreceptors. Boston, Springer 1988:263–9.
  42. McGlamery ME. Mammalian Muscle Receptors and Their Central Actions. Physical Therapy 1973; 53(8):927–8.
  43. Barker D. The Morphology of Muscle Receptors. Handbook of sensory physiology 1974; 1–190.
  44. Adal MN, Chew Cheng SB. The number, distribution and density of muscle spindles in two wing muscles of the domestic duck. J Anat 1980; 131(Pt 3):541-8.
  45. Maier A. Development and regeneration of muscle spindles in mammals and birds. Int J Dev Biol 1997; 41(1):1-17.
  46. Ovalle WK, Dow PR, Nahirney PC. Structure, distribution and innervation of muscle spindles in avian fast and slow skeletal muscle. J Anat 1999; 194(Pt 3):381-94.
  47. Cooper S, Danıel Pm. Muscle spindles in human extrinsic eye muscles. Brain 1949; 72:1-24.
  48. Maier A, Eldred E. Comparisons in the structure of avian muscle spindles. J Comp Neurol 1971; 143(1):25-40.
  49. Uehara Y. Occurrence of an "extrafusal muscle fiber" in the spindle capsule of normal adult zebra-finches: an electron microscopical study. J Electron Microsc 1978; 27(4):293-9.
  50. Adal MN, Chew Cheng SB. Intrafusal muscle fibers of duck muscle spindles. J Morphol 1987; 191(3):225-32.
  51. Eldred E, Maier A, Bridgman CF. Differences in intrafusal fiber content of spindles in several muscles of the cat. Exp Neurol 1974; 45(1):8-18.
  52. Fukami Y, Hunt CC. Structure of snake muscle spindles. J Neurophysiol 1970; 33(1):9-27.
  53. Pallot DJ, Ridge RM. Ultrastructure of snake muscle spindles. J Physiol 1971;218 Suppl:17P-18P.
  54. Proske U. The muscle spindles in slow and twitch skeletal muscle of the lizard. J Physiol 1973; 230(2):429-48.
  55. Proske U. The innervation of muscle spindles in the lizard Tiliqua nigrolutea. J Anat 1969; 105(Pt 2):217-30.
  56. Kuhne W. Die Muskelspindeln. Ein Beitrag zur Lehre von der Entwicklung der Muskein und Nervenfasern. Virchow'sArch.path.Anat.Physiol 1863; 28:528-537.
  57. Pallot DJ, Ridge RM. The fine structure of the long-capsule muscle spindles in the snake Natrix sp. J Anat 1972; 113(Pt 1):61-74.
  58. Hines M. Studies in the innervation of skeletal muscle. IV. Of certain muscles of the boa constrictor. The Journal of Comparative Neurology 1932; 56(1):105–33.
  59. Kulchitsky N. Nerve Endings in Muscles. J Anat 1924; 58(Pt 2):152-69.
  60. Fukami Y. Tonic and phasic muscle spindles in snake. J Neurophysiol 1970; 33(1):28-35.
  61. Kargo WJ, Giszter SF. Rapid correction of aimed movements by summation of force-field primitives. J Neurosci 2000; 20(1):409-26.
  62. Murthy KS, Taylor A. Muscle spindle behavior during active muscle contraction in Amphibia. Exp Neurol 1978; 60(2):175-88.
  63. Mandal R, Anderson CW. Identification of muscle spindles in the submentalis muscle of the marine toad, Bufo marinus and its potential proprioceptive capacity in jaw-tongue coordination. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2010; 293(9):1568-73.
  64. Gans C, Gorniak GC. Functional morphology of lingual protrusion in marine toads (Bufo marinus). American Journal of Anatomy 1982; 163(3):195–222.
  65. Gans C, Gorniak GC. How does the toad flip its tongue? Test of two hypotheses. Science 1982; 216(4552):1335-7.
  66. Wolff JB, Lee MJ, Anderson CW. Contribution of the submentalis muscle to feeding mechanics in the leopard frog, Rana pipiens. J Exp Zool A Comp Exp Biol 2004; 301(8):666-73.
  67. Harwood DV, Anderson CW. Evidence for the anatomical origins of hypoglossal afferents in the tongue of the leopard frog, Rana pipiens. Brain Res 2000; 862(1-2):288-91.
  68. Anderson CW, Nishikawa KC. A prey-type dependent hypoglossal feedback system in the frog Rana pipiens. Brain Behav Evol 1993; 42(3):189-96.
  69. Diwan FH, Ito F. Intrafusal muscle fibre types in frog spindles. J Anat 1989; 163:191-200.
  70. Edman KA, Radzyukevich T, Kronborg B. Contractile properties of isolated muscle spindles of the frog. J Physiol 2002; 541(Pt 3):905-16.
  71. Uehara Y, Hama K. Some Observations on the Fine Structure of the Frog Muscle Spindle*(I) On the Sensory Terminals and Motor Endings of the Muscle Spindle. Journal of Electron Microscopy 1965; 14(1):34-42
  72. Hale ME. Evolution of touch and proprioception of the limbs: Insights from fish and humans. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2021; 71:37-43.
  73. Williams R 4th, Neubarth N, Hale ME. The function of fin rays as proprioceptive sensors in fish. Nat Commun 2013; 4:1729.
  74. Fessard A, Sand A. Stretch Receptors in the Muscles of Fishes. Journal of Experimental Biology 1937; 14(4):383–404.
  75. Williams R 4th, Hale ME. Fin ray sensation participates in the generation of normal fin movement in the hovering behavior of the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). J Exp Biol 2015; 218(Pt 21):3435-47.
  76. Burrows M. Controlling local movements of the legs. In: The neurobiology of an insect brain. 1st ed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1996:254–325.
  77. Moyes CD, Schulte PM (eds): Principles of Animal Physiology, 3rd ed. Toronto, Pearson, 2016.
  78. Bezares-Calderón LA, Berger J, Jékely G. Diversity of cilia-based mechanosensory systems and their functions in marine animal behaviour. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375(1792):20190376.
  79. Jande SS. Fine structure of lateral-line organs of frog tadpoles. J Ultrastruct Res 1966; 15(5):496-509.
  80. Tamm SL. Cilia and the life of ctenophores. Invertebrate Biology 2014; 133(1):1–46.
  81. Peteya DJ. A possible proprioceptor in Ceriantheopsis americanus (Cnidaria, Ceriantharia). Z Zellforsch Mikrosk Anat 1973; 144(1):1-10.
  82. Golz R, Thurm U. Cytoskeletal modifications of the sensorimotor interneurons ofHydra vulgaris (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa), indicating a sensory function similar to chordotonal receptors of insects. Zoomorphology 1991; 111(2):113–8.
  83. Westfall JA. Ultrastructural evidence for a granule-containing sensory-motor-interneuron in Hydra littoralis. J Ultrastruct Res 1973; 42(3):268-82.
  84. Kinnamon JC, Westfall JA. Types of neurons and synaptic connections at hypostome-tentacle junctions in Hydra. J Morphol 1982; 173(1):119-28.
  85. Simmons SL, Satterlie RA. Tentacle Musculature in the Cubozoan Jellyfish Carybdea marsupialis. Biol Bull 2018; 235(2):91-101.
  86. Hope WD, Gardiner SL. Fine structure of a proprioceptor in the body wall of the marine nematode Deontostoma californicum Steiner and Albin, 1933 (Enoplida: Leptosomatidae). Cell Tissue Res 1982; 225(1):1-10.
  87. Preuss T, Budelmann BU. Proprioceptive hair cells on the neck of the squid Lolliguncula brevis: a sense organ in cephalopods for the control of head-to-body position. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 1995; 349(1328):153-78.
  88. Moore A, Cobb JLS. Neurophysiological studies on the detection of mechanical stimuli by Ophiura ophiura (L.). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 1986; 104(1-3):125–41.
  89. Horridge GA. Proprioceptors, bristle receptors, efferent sensory impulses, neurofibrils and number of axons in the parapodial nerve of the polychaeteHarmothoë. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences 1963; 157(967):199–222.
  90. Evans CG, Cropper EC. Proprioceptive input to feeding motor programs in Aplysia. J Neurosci 1998; 18(19):8016-31.
  91. Mill PJ (eds): Structure and Function of Proprioceptors in the Invertebrates, 1st ed. London, Chapman & Hall, 1976.
  92. Kennedy WR, Webster HF, Yoon KS. Human muscle spindles: fine structure of the primary sensory ending. J Neurocytol 1975; 4(6):675-95.