Abstract
The classic 'size principle' of motor control describes how increasingly forceful movements arise by the recruitment of motoneurons of progressively larger size and force output into the active pool. We explored the activity of pools of spinal interneurons in larval zebrafish and found that increases in swimming speed were not associated with the simple addition of cells to the active pool. Instead, the recruitment of interneurons at faster speeds was accompanied by the silencing of those driving movements at slower speeds. This silencing occurred both between and within classes of rhythmically active premotor excitatory interneurons. Thus, unlike motoneurons, there is a continuous shift in the set of cells driving the behavior, even though changes in the speed of the movements and the frequency of the motor pattern appear to be smoothly graded. We conclude that fundamentally different principles may underlie the recruitment of motoneuron and interneuron pools.
Publication types
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Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Action Potentials / drug effects
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Action Potentials / physiology
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Adaptation, Physiological / physiology*
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Animals
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Behavior, Animal
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Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
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Electric Stimulation / methods
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Electronic Data Processing / methods
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Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / pharmacology
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Fluorescent Dyes / metabolism
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Interneurons / physiology*
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Larva
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Motor Neurons / physiology
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Movement / physiology*
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Nerve Net / physiology
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Neural Inhibition / drug effects
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Neural Inhibition / physiology
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Neural Inhibition / radiation effects
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Patch-Clamp Techniques
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Periodicity
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Quinoxalines / pharmacology
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Recruitment, Neurophysiological / physiology
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Spinal Cord / cytology*
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Swimming / physiology*
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Synaptic Potentials / drug effects
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Synaptic Potentials / physiology
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Valine / analogs & derivatives
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Valine / pharmacology
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Zebrafish
Substances
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Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists
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Fluorescent Dyes
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Quinoxalines
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2,3-dioxo-6-nitro-7-sulfamoylbenzo(f)quinoxaline
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2-amino-5-phosphopentanoic acid
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Valine