The Journal of Neuroscience, March 1, 2003, 23(5):1886
Task-Dependent Presynaptic Inhibition
Marie-Pascale
Côté and
Jean-Pierre
Gossard
Centre de recherche en sciences neurologiques, Département de
physiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de
Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3C 3J7
This study compares the level of presynaptic inhibition during two
rhythmic movements in the cat: locomotion and scratch. Dorsal rootlets
from L6, L7, or S1 segments were cut, and their proximal stumps were
recorded during fictive locomotion occurring spontaneously in
decerebrate cats and during fictive scratch induced by
D-tubocurarine applied on the C1 and C2 segments. Compared with rest, the number of antidromic spikes was increased (by 12%) during locomotion, whereas it was greatly decreased (31%) during scratch, and the amplitude of dorsal root potentials (DRPs), evoked by
stimulating a muscle nerve, was slightly decreased (7%) during locomotion but much more so during scratch (53%). When compared with
locomotion, the decrease in the number of antidromic spikes (45%) and
the decrease in DRP amplitude (43%) during scratch were of similar
magnitude. Also, the amplitude of primary afferent depolarization
(PAD), recorded with micropipettes in axons (n = 13) of two cats, was found to be significantly reduced (60%) during
scratch compared with rest. During both rhythms, there were cyclic
oscillations in dorsal root potential the timing of which was linearly
related to the timing of rhythmic activity in tibialis anterior.
The amplitude of these oscillations was significantly smaller (34%)
during locomotion compared with scratch. These results suggest that the
reduction in antidromic activity during scratch was attributable
to a task-dependent decrease in transmission in PAD pathways and
not to underlying potential oscillations related to the central pattern
generator. It is concluded that presynaptic inhibition and
antidromic discharge may have a more important role in the control of
locomotion than scratch.
Key words:
presynaptic inhibition; fictive locomotion; fictive
scratch; dorsal root potential; spinal cord; motor control
Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/03/2351886-08$05.00/0