Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19703959›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of physiology2009

Defining the excitatory neurons that drive the locomotor rhythm in a simple vertebrate: insights into the origin of reticulospinal control.

Stephen R Soffe, Alan Roberts, Wen-Chang Li

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

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 46 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
46citing papers in PubMed
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

46 citing papers in PubMed, 82 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Mechanisms Underlying the Recruitment of Inhibitory Interneurons in Fictive Swimming in DevelopingThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023
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  5. The early development and physiology ofJournal of neurophysiology · 2021
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  6. Command or Obey? Homologous Neurons Differ in Hierarchical Position for the Generation of Homologous Behaviors.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2019
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Stephen R SoffeSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK. s.r.soffe@bristol.ac.uk
Alan Roberts
Wen-Chang Li
University of Bristol · GB

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Important questions remain about the origin of the excitation that drives locomotion in vertebrates and the roles played by reticulospinal neurons. In young Xenopus tadpoles, paired whole-cell recordings reveal reticulospinal neurons that directly excite swimming circuit neurons in the brainstem and spinal cord. They form part of a column of neurons (dINs) with ipsilateral descending projections which fire reliably and rhythmically in time with swimming. We ask if, at this early stage of development, these reticulospinal neurons are themselves the primary source of rhythmic drive to spinal cord neurons on each cycle of swimming. Loose-patch recordings in the hindbrain and spinal cord from neurons active during fictive swimming distinguished dINs from other neurons by spike shape. These recordings showed that reticulospinal dINs in the caudal hindbrain (rhombomeres 7-8) fire significantly earlier on each swimming cycle than other, ipsilateral, swimming circuit neurons. Whole-cell recordings showed that fast EPSCs typically precede, and probably drive, spikes in most swimming circuit neurons. However, the earliest-firing reticulospinal dINs spike too soon to be driven by underlying fast EPSCs. We propose that rebound following reciprocal inhibition can contribute to early reticulospinal dIN firing during swimming and show rebound firing in dINs following evoked, reciprocal inhibitory PSPs. Our results define reticulospinal neurons that are the source of the primary, descending, rhythmic excitation that drives spinal cord neurons to fire during swimming. These neurons are an integral part of the rhythm generating circuitry. We discuss the origin of these reticulospinal neurons as specialised members of a longitudinally distributed population of excitatory interneurons extending from the brainstem into the spinal cord.

Indexed as

PeriodicityAction PotentialsAnimalsBrain StemEfferent PathwaysInterneuronsLarvaNeural InhibitionPatch-Clamp TechniquesSpinal CordSwimmingTime FactorsXenopus laevis

Identifiers

PMID19703959
PMCPMC2770150
OpenAlexW1564229154

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.