In:
The Journal of Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience, Vol. 29, No. 3 ( 2009-01-21), p. 798-810
Abstract:
We present for the first time direct electrophysiological evidence of the phenomenon of traveling electrical waves produced by populations of interneurons within the spinal cord. We show that, during a fictive rhythmic motor task, scratching, an electrical field potential of spinal interneurons takes the shape of a sinuous wave, “sweeping” the lumbosacral spinal cord rostrocaudally with a mean speed of ∼0.3 m/s. We observed that traveling waves and scratching have the same cycle duration and that duration of the flexor phase, but not of the extensor phase, is highly correlated with the cycle duration of the traveling waves. Furthermore, we found that the interneurons from the deep dorsal horn and the intermediate nucleus can generate the spinal traveling waves, even in the absence of motoneuronal activity. These findings show that the sinusoidal field potentials generated during fictive scratching could be a powerful tool to disclose the organization of central pattern generator networks.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0270-6474
,
1529-2401
DOI:
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3408-08.2009
Language:
English
Publisher:
Society for Neuroscience
Publication Date:
2009
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1475274-8
SSG:
12
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