Elsevier

Brain Research

Volume 535, Issue 2, 10 December 1990, Pages 327-330
Brain Research

Contralaterally projecting lamina VIII interneurones in middle lumbar segments in the cat

https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(90)91618-QGet rights and content

Abstract

Peripheral input to lamina VIII interneurones was investigated by using extracellular and/or intracellular records from them. The interneurones were located in the L4-L5 spinal segments and projected to contralateral motor nuclei in the L7 segment. They constituted a non-homogeneous population but their input from muscle afferents (mainly group II afferents of quadriceps, flexor digitorum longus and pretibial flexors and group I afferents of triceps surae and hamstring nerves) and from cutaneous and joint afferents resembled the input to ipsilaterally projecting laminae V–VII interneurones of the same segments rather than the input to more caudally located lamina VII interneurones. Since the ipsilaterally projecting laminae V–VII interneurones with such an input might be involved in locomotion, it is proposed that this is also the case for the contralaterally projecting lamina VIII midlumbar interneurones, especially those excited by stimuli applied in the cuneiform nucleus (mesencephalic locomotor region).

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The study was supported by the Swedish Medical Research Council (Project No. 5648). B.R.N. received an IBRO fellowship.

1

Present address: Department of Physiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E OW3, Canada.

2

Assistance of B. Morzkowski is gratefully acknowledged.

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