ArticleJournal of neurophysiology2017
PICs in motoneurons do not scale with the size of the animal: a possible mechanism for faster speed of muscle contraction in smaller species.
Article in Journal of neurophysiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of biological variables' impact on spinal motoneuron electrophysiology data.Journal of neurophysiology · 2020Pooled it
- Chronic Diazepam Reveals Excessive Homeostatic Gain in SOD1International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Chronic diazepam reveals excessive homeostatic gain in SOD1bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Motor unit mechanisms of speed control in mouse locomotion.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- A Multi-Scale, High-Fidelity Computational Model of the Mouse Triceps Surae Motor Pool.Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference · 2025Article
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- Effect of size on expression of bistability in mouse spinal motoneurons.Journal of neurophysiology · 2024Article
- Neuromotor control of spontaneous quiet breathing in awake rats evaluated by assessments of diaphragm EMG stationarity.Journal of neurophysiology · 2023Article
- Voluntary activation of muscle in humans: does serotonergic neuromodulation matter?The Journal of physiology · 2022Review
- Effects of reciprocal inhibition and whole-body relaxation on persistent inward currents estimated by two different methods.The Journal of physiology · 2022Article
- Intrinsic motoneuron excitability is reduced in soleus and tibialis anterior of older adults.GeroScience · 2021Article
- Location, location, location: the organization and roles of potassium channels in mammalian motoneurons.The Journal of physiology · 2021Article
- Scaling of Motor Output, From Mouse to Humans.Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) · 2019Review
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The majority of studies on the electrical properties of neurons are carried out in rodents, and in particular in mice. However, the minute size of this animal compared with humans potentially limits the relevance of the resulting insights. To be able to extrapolate results obtained in a small animal such as a rodent, one needs to have proper knowledge of the rules governing how electrical properties of neurons scale with the size of the animal. Generally speaking, electrical resistances of neurons increase as cell size decreases, and thus maintenance of equal depolarization across cells of different sizes requires the underlying currents to decrease in proportion to the size decrease. Thus it would generally be expected that voltage-sensitive currents are smaller in smaller animals. In this study, we used in vivo preparations to record electrical properties of spinal motoneurons in deeply anesthetized adult mice and cats. We found that PICs do not scale with size, but instead are constant in their amplitudes across these species. This constancy, coupled with the threefold differences in electrical resistances, means that PICs contribute a threefold larger depolarization in the mouse than in the cat. As a consequence, motoneuronal firing rate sharply increases as animal size decreases. These differences in firing rates are likely essential in allowing different species to control muscles with widely different contraction speeds (smaller animals have faster muscle fibers). Thus from our results we have identified a possible new mechanism for how electrical properties are tuned to match mechanical properties within the motor output system.
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Registered trials
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