scholarly journals Spinal lumbar dI2 interneurons contribute to stability of bipedal stepping

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baruch Haimson ◽  
Yoav Hadas ◽  
Nimrod Bernat ◽  
Artur Kania ◽  
Monica A Daley ◽  
...  

Peripheral and intraspinal feedback is required to shape and update the output of spinal networks that execute motor behavior. We report that lumbar dI2 spinal interneurons in chicks receive synaptic input from afferents and premotor neurons. These interneurons innervate contralateral premotor networks in the lumbar and brachial spinal cord, and their ascending projections innervate the cerebellum. These findings suggest that dI2 neurons function as interneurons in local lumbar circuits, are involved in lumbo-brachial coupling, and that part of them deliver peripheral and intraspinal feedback to the cerebellum. Silencing of dI2 neurons leads to destabilized stepping in P8 hatchlings, with occasional collapses, variable step profiles and a wide-base walking gait, suggesting that dI2 neurons may contribute to the stabilization of the bipedal gait.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baruch Haimson ◽  
Yoav Hadas ◽  
Artur Kania ◽  
Monica Daley ◽  
Yuval Cinnamon ◽  
...  

SummaryPeripheral and intraspinal feedback is required to shape and update the output of spinal networks that execute motor behavior. We report that lumbar dI2 spinal interneurons of the chick receive synaptic input from afferents and pre-motoneurons. They innervate contralateral premotor networks in the lumbar and brachial spinal cord and their ascending projections innervate the cerebellum. These findings suggest that dI2 neurons function as interneurons in local lumbar circuits and involved in lumbo-brachial coupling and that part of them deliver peripheral and intraspinal feedback to the cerebellum. Silencing of dI2 neurons leads to destabilized stepping in P8 hatchlings with occasional collapses, variable step-profiles and wide-base walking, suggesting that the dI2 neurons may contribute to stabilization of the bipedal gait.


1995 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 442-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilio Bizzi ◽  
Simon F. Giszter ◽  
Eric Loeb ◽  
Fernando A. Mussa-Ivaldi ◽  
Philippe Saltiel

1982 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1279-1288 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Soffe ◽  
A. Roberts

1. In curarized, late developmental stage Xenopus embryos, episodes of rhythmic motor root discharge, termed fictive swimming (17), may be evoked by touch or by dimming the lights, as in unparalyzed animals. Motoneurons are tonically depolarized throughout each episode, are phasically excited to fire 1 spike per cycle, and receive a midcycle inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP) in phase with motor root activity on the opposite side. 2. Rostral hemisection of the spinal cord abolishes motor root discharge on the operated side caudal to the cut but leaves activity on the intact side unaffected. In motoneurons, the tonic depolarization is abolished on the hemisected side but is still present on the intact side. This is evidence that the tonic depolarization is a descending drive. 3. Midcycle IPSPs normally seen in motoneurons during fictive swimming are abolished by rostral hemisection of the opposite side of the cord but are still recorded on the cut side. The simplest conclusion is that the inhibitory interneurons responsible lie on the opposite side of the spinal cord to the motoneurons they inhibit, and so represent a reciprocal inhibitory pathway. 4. The phasic excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs), which drive motoneuron spikes during swimming, are still present on the intact side of a rostrally hemisected cord but are abolished on the operated side. We conclude that the excitatory interneurons responsible lie on the same side of the cord as the motoneurons they excite.


Neuron ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 96 (6) ◽  
pp. 1419-1431.e5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie C. Koch ◽  
Marta Garcia Del Barrio ◽  
Antoine Dalet ◽  
Graziana Gatto ◽  
Thomas Günther ◽  
...  

eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuan V Bui ◽  
Nicolas Stifani ◽  
Turgay Akay ◽  
Robert M Brownstone

The spinal cord has the capacity to coordinate motor activities such as locomotion. Following spinal transection, functional activity can be regained, to a degree, following motor training. To identify microcircuits involved in this recovery, we studied a population of mouse spinal interneurons known to receive direct afferent inputs and project to intermediate and ventral regions of the spinal cord. We demonstrate that while dI3 interneurons are not necessary for normal locomotor activity, locomotor circuits rhythmically inhibit them and dI3 interneurons can activate these circuits. Removing dI3 interneurons from spinal microcircuits by eliminating their synaptic transmission left locomotion more or less unchanged, but abolished functional recovery, indicating that dI3 interneurons are a necessary cellular substrate for motor system plasticity following transection. We suggest that dI3 interneurons compare inputs from locomotor circuits with sensory afferent inputs to compute sensory prediction errors that then modify locomotor circuits to effect motor recovery.


2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 366-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Dai ◽  
Larry M. Jordan

Hyperpolarization-activated inward current ( Ih) has been shown to be involved in production of bursting during various forms of rhythmic activity. However, details of Ih in spinal interneurons related to locomotion remain unknown. Using Cfos-EGFP transgenic mice (P6–P12) we are able to target the spinal interneurons activated by locomotion. Following a locomotor task, whole cell patch-clamp recordings were obtained from ventral EGFP+ neurons in spinal cord slices (T13–L4, 200–250 μm). Ih was found in 51% of EGFP+ neurons ( n = 149) with almost even distribution in lamina VII (51%), VIII (47%), and X (55%). Ih could be blocked by ZD7288 (10–20 μM) or cesium (1–1.5 mM) but was insensitive to barium (2–2.5 mM). Ih activated at −80.1 ± 9.2 mV with half-maximal activation −95.5 ± 13.3 mV, activation rate 10.0 ± 3.2 mV, time constant 745 ± 501 ms, maximal conductance 1.0 ± 0.7 nS, and reversal potential −34.3 ± 3.6 mV. 5-HT (15–20 μM) and ACh (20–30 μM) produced variable effects on Ih. 5-HT increased Ih in 43% of EGFP+ neurons ( n = 37), decreased Ih in 24%, and had no effect on Ih in 33% of the neurons. ACh decreased Ih in 67% of EGFP+ neurons ( n = 18) with unchanged Ih in 33% of the neurons. This study characterizes the Ih in locomotor-related interneurons and is the first to demonstrate the variable effects of 5-HT and ACh on Ih in rodent spinal interneurons. The finding of 5-HT and ACh-induced reduction of Ih in EGFP+ neurons suggests a novel mechanism that the motor system could use to limit the participation of certain neurons in locomotion.


Development ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 125 (6) ◽  
pp. 969-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ensini ◽  
T.N. Tsuchida ◽  
H.G. Belting ◽  
T.M. Jessell

The generation of distinct classes of motor neurons is an early step in the control of vertebrate motor behavior. To study the interactions that control the generation of motor neuron subclasses in the developing avian spinal cord we performed in vivo grafting studies in which either the neural tube or flanking mesoderm were displaced between thoracic and brachial levels. The positional identity of neural tube cells and motor neuron subtype identity was assessed by Hox and LIM homeodomain protein expression. Our results show that the rostrocaudal identity of neural cells is plastic at the time of neural tube closure and is sensitive to positionally restricted signals from the paraxial mesoderm. Such paraxial mesodermal signals appear to control the rostrocaudal identity of neural tube cells and the columnar subtype identity of motor neurons. These results suggest that the generation of motor neuron subtypes in the developing spinal cord involves the integration of distinct rostrocaudal and dorsoventral patterning signals that derive, respectively, from paraxial and axial mesodermal cell groups.


2008 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 2012-2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiko Takei ◽  
Kazuhiko Seki

We recorded local field potentials (LFPs) from cervical spinal cord (C5–C8) in monkeys performing a precision grip task and examined their coherence with electromyographic (EMG) activities (spinomuscular coherence) recorded from hand and arm muscles. Among 164 LFP-EMG pairs, significant coherence was found in 34 pairs (21%). We classified the coherence into two groups based on its frequency range, narrowband coherence, and broadband coherence. The narrowband coherence was restricted to discrete frequencies in the range of 14–55 Hz and was widespread throughout the superficial and deep gray matter. In contrast, the broadband coherence distributed between 10 and 95 Hz and was found only in the ventral half of the spinal cord. The narrowband coherence suggests that oscillations, which have been described in many motor control areas of the brain, could also pass though spinal interneurons to affect motor output and sensorimotor integration. On the other hand, the broadband coherence could be a unique feature of spinal motoneuron-muscle physiology.


2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (10) ◽  
pp. 2001-2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saša Koželj ◽  
Stuart N. Baker

Neurons in the spinal cord and motor cortex (M1) are partially phase-locked to cycles of physiological tremor, but with opposite phases. Convergence of spinal and cortical activity onto motoneurons may thus produce phase cancellation and a reduction in tremor amplitude. The mechanisms underlying this phase difference are unknown. We investigated coherence between spinal and M1 activity with sensory input. In two anesthetized monkeys, we electrically stimulated the medial, ulnar, deep radial, and superficial radial nerves; stimuli were timed as independent Poisson processes (rate 10 Hz). Single units were recorded from M1 (147 cells) or cervical spinal cord (61 cells). Ninety M1 cells were antidromically identified as pyramidal tract neurons (PTNs); M1 neurons were additionally classified according to M1 subdivision (rostral/caudal, M1r/c). Spike-stimulus coherence analysis revealed significant coupling over a broad range of frequencies, with the strongest coherence at <50 Hz. Delays implied by the slope of the coherence phase-frequency relationship were greater than the response onset latency, reflecting the importance of late response components for the transmission of oscillatory inputs. The spike-stimulus coherence phase over the 6–13 Hz physiological tremor band differed significantly between M1 and spinal cells (phase differences relative to the cord of 2.72 ± 0.29 and 1.72 ± 0.37 radians for PTNs from M1c and M1r, respectively). We conclude that different phases of the response to peripheral input could partially underlie antiphase M1 and spinal cord activity during motor behavior. The coordinated action of spinal and cortical feedback will act to reduce tremulous oscillations, possibly improving the overall stability and precision of motor control.


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