Recovery of bimodal locomotion in the spinal-transected salamander, Pleurodeles waltlii
Eur J Neurosci. 2004-10-01; 20(8): 1995-2007
DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2004.03671.x
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1. Eur J Neurosci. 2004 Oct;20(8):1995-2007.
Recovery of bimodal locomotion in the spinal-transected salamander, Pleurodeles
waltlii.
Chevallier S(1), Landry M, Nagy F, Cabelguen JM.
Author information:
(1)INSERM E 0358, Physiopathologie des Réseaux Neuronaux Médullaires, Institut
François Magendie, Université Bordeaux 2, 1 rue Camille Saint-Saëns, 33077
Bordeaux, France.
Electromyographic (EMG) analysis was used to provide an assessment of the
recovery of locomotion in spinal-transected adult salamanders (Pleurodeles
waltlii). EMG recordings were performed during swimming and overground stepping
in the same animal before and at various times (up to 500 days) after a mid-trunk
spinalization. Two-three weeks after spinalization, locomotor EMG activity was
limited to the forelimbs and the body rostral to the transection. Thereafter,
there was a return of the locomotor EMG activity at progressively more caudal
levels below the transection. The animals reached stable locomotor patterns 3-4
months post-transection. Several locomotor parameters (cycle duration, burst
duration, burst proportion, intersegmental phase lag, interlimb coupling)
measured at various recovery times after spinalization were compared with those
in intact animals. These comparisons revealed transient and long-term alterations
in the locomotor parameters both above and below the transection site. These
alterations were much more pronounced for swimming than for stepping and revealed
differences in adaptive plasticity between the two locomotor networks. Recovered
locomotor activity was immediately abolished by retransection at the site of the
original spinalization, suggesting that the spinal cord caudal to the transection
was reinnervated by descending brain and/or propriospinal axons, and that this
regeneration contributed to the restoration of locomotor activity. Anatomical
studies conducted in parallel further demonstrated that some of the regenerated
axons came from glutamatergic and serotoninergic immunoreactive cells within the
reticular formation.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2004.03671.x
PMID: 15450078 [Indexed for MEDLINE]