ArticleThe Journal of physiology2009
Locomotor rhythm maintenance: electrical coupling among premotor excitatory interneurons in the brainstem and spinal cord of young Xenopus tadpoles.
Article in The Journal of physiology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers.
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53 citing papers in PubMed, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Simultaneous Whole-Cell Recording and Calcium Imaging Does Not Reveal Electrically Coupled Neurons ineNeuro · 2026Article
- Spinal Interneurons: Diversity and Connectivity in Motor Control.Annual review of neuroscience · 2023Review
- Mechanisms Underlying the Recruitment of Inhibitory Interneurons in Fictive Swimming in DevelopingThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023Article
- Transformation of an early-established motor circuit during maturation in zebrafish.Cell reports · 2022Article
- From decision to action: Detailed modelling of frog tadpoles reveals neuronal mechanisms of decision-making and reproduces unpredictable swimming movements in response to sensory signals.PLoS computational biology · 2021Article
- Single-Cell Reconstruction of Emerging Population Activity in an Entire Developing Circuit.Cell · 2019Article
- Hierarchical control of locomotion by distinct types of spinal V2a interneurons in zebrafish.Nature communications · 2019Article
- A GABAergic and peptidergic sleep neuron as a locomotion stop neuron with compartmentalized Ca2+ dynamics.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Nervous mechanisms of locomotion in different directions.Current opinion in physiology · 2019Article
- The decision to move: response times, neuronal circuits and sensory memory in a simple vertebrate.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Review
- Stimulation of Single, Possible CHX10 Hindbrain Neurons Turns Swimming On and Off in YoungFrontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2019Article
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- A simple decision to move in response to touch reveals basic sensory memory and mechanisms for variable response times.The Journal of physiology · 2018Article
- Swimming rhythm generation in the caudal hindbrain of the lamprey.Journal of neurophysiology · 2018Article
- Functional changes after spinal lesions: implications for interventions.Neural regeneration research · 2018Article
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- Zebrafish transgenic constructs label specific neurons in Xenopus laevis spinal cord and identify frog V0v spinal neurons.Developmental neurobiology · 2017Article
- The modulation of two motor behaviors by persistent sodium currents inJournal of neurophysiology · 2017Article
- Gap Junction-Mediated Signaling from Motor Neurons Regulates Motor Generation in the Central Circuits of LarvalThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2017Article
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3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
Electrical coupling is important in rhythm generating systems. We examine its role in circuits controlling locomotion in a simple vertebrate model, the young Xenopus tadpole, where the hindbrain and spinal cord excitatory descending interneurons (dINs) that drive and maintain swimming have been characterised. Using simultaneous paired recordings, we show that most dINs are electrically coupled exclusively to other dINs (DC coupling coefficients approximately 8.5%). The coupling shows typical low-pass filtering. We found no evidence that other swimming central pattern generator (CPG) interneurons are coupled to dINs or to each other. Electrical coupling potentials between dINs appear to contribute to their unusually reliable firing during swimming. To investigate the role of electrical coupling in swimming, we evaluated the specificity of gap junction blockers (18-beta-GA, carbenoxolone, flufenamic acid and heptanol) in paired recordings. 18-beta-GA at 40-60 mum produced substantial (84%) coupling block but few effects on cellular properties. Swimming episodes in 18-beta-GA were significantly shortened (to approximately 2% of control durations). At the same time, dIN firing reliability fell from nearly 100% to 62% of swimming cycles and spike synchronization weakened. Because dINs drive CPG neuron firing and are critical in maintaining swimming, the weakening of dIN activity could account for the effects of 18-beta-GA on swimming. We conclude that electrical coupling among pre motor reticulospinal and spinal dINs, the excitatory interneurons that drive the swimming CPG in the hatchling Xenopus tadpole, may contribute to the maintenance of swimming as well as synchronization of activity.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.