Activation patterns of embryonic chick hind limb muscles recorded in ovo and in an isolated spinal cord preparation

Muscle activation patterns of embryonic chick hind limb muscles were determined from electromyographic (e.m.g.) recordings in an isolated spinal cord/hind limb preparation of stage 34-36 embryos, and were compared with in ovo e.m.g. activity from similarly staged embryos. Muscle activity in ovo consisted of periodically recurring sequences of bursts during which antagonistic muscles often alternated and synergistic muscles were co-active, as compatible with their mature function. However, more variable behaviour was also observed. Burst sequences in ovo were often initiated by a short-duration, high-amplitude discharge that occurred synchronously in all muscles studied, and which was followed by a period of electrical silence that was longest in the flexor muscles. This type of activity has not been described previously in mature animals. In ovo movement sequences were generally initiated by extensor activity which progressively declined in duration and intensity throughout the sequence, while flexor activity progressively intensified. The onset of activity in extensor muscles was accompanied by an abrupt decrease in flexor activity, whereas the converse was not observed. Spontaneous movement sequences also occurred when the spinal cord and hind limb were isolated and maintained in oxygenated Tyrode solution for several hours. Deafferentation experiments indicated that the motor pattern in this preparation was generated centrally by circuits within the spinal cord. Activity from the isolated cord was less variable than that occurring in ovo, consisting of sequences of highly regular recurring bursts. Each burst began with a brief high-amplitude discharge that occurred synchronously in all muscles and which was similar to that observed in ovo. This was followed by a silent period, which was longest in the flexors, and then by a more prolonged burst. Although its behaviour differs from that in ovo in some respects, it is concluded that the isolated cord maintained in vitro produces a spontaneous and patterned motor output.

The activation patterns of embryonic chick motoneurones projecting to inappropriate muscles

Chick lumbosacral motoneurones were caused to innervate foreign muscles by surgically rotating or shifting the limb bud about the anterior-posterior axis in stage 17-18 embryos. The activation pattern of such wrongly projecting motoneurones was assessed at stages 35-38 by recording electromyographic activity from muscles in an isolated spinal cord/hind limb preparation. Muscle activity was classed as flexor- or extensor-like according to the characteristics of the patterned sequence of bursts elicited by a single shock to the thoracic cord. Wrongly projecting motoneurones did not have their activation pattern altered to one appropriate for the muscle innervated; therefore in some cases a particular muscle was activated with a pattern similar to its original one, and in other cases in an opposite manner. Mixed flexor-extensor-like activation of a single muscle was, however, rare. The identity of motoneurones projecting to a muscle was determined by their cord location following retrograde labelling with horseradish peroxidase. This allowed us to conclude that motoneurones could develop their normal pattern of activation even when projecting to foreign muscles. It is concluded that the cord circuits (presumably composed of local interneurones responsible for the activation of motoneurones in the isolated cord preparation are not altered by retrograde influences from the muscle. Wrongly projecting motoneurones, which were maintained throughout the normal cell death period, were activated during spontaneous embryonic movements, and in many cases were found to have a behaviourally inappropriate activation pattern. These observations are discussed in relation to proposed mechanisms by which developmental errors in connectivity are corrected.

Physiological characterization of motor unit properties in intact cats

Single motor units were isolated in intact cats, by microstimulation through chronically implanted microwires in the L5 ventral roots. Motor unit axonal and mechanical properties were obtained by stimulus-triggered averaging the signals from an implanted femoral nerve recording cuff and patellar tendon force transducer. All unit types were sampled with this technique, and it was also possible to stimulate in isolation an axon whose ventral root spike was recorded during treadmill locomotion. A new technique was described, spike-triggered microstimulation, for verifying the identity of a stimulated and a recorded axon.

A HRP study of the relation between cell size and motor unit type in cat ankle extensor motoneurons

The dimensions of the somata and stem dendrites of 57 alpha- and three gamma-motoneurons, identified as to motor unit type and labeled by intracellular injection of horseradish peroxidase, were measured in the triceps surae and plantaris motor pools. The somata of type S motoneurons tended to be smaller (mean diameter 47.9 micrometers) than those of FF and FR units (52.5 and 53.1 micrometer, respectively) but these mean values were not significantly different and the data distributions showed considerable overlap between the unit types. The mean numbers and diameters of stem dendrites exhibited somewhat larger differences related to motor unit type and some of these were statistically significant. The total membrane area (AN) of each cell was estimated from measurements of the soma and stem dendrites, by using recent data and Ulfhake and Kellerth ('81) to calculate the membrane area of a dendritic tree from stem dendrite diameter. Mean AN varied with motor unit type in the sequence FF greater than FR greater than S (average values: 369 X 100(3) micrometers 2, 323 X 100(3) micrometers 2, and 250 X 100(3) micrometers 2, respectively). There was covariation between AN and the conduction velocity of the motor axon as well as with the force output from the muscle unit. Comparison of AN and motoneuron input resistance (RN) in 19 alpha-motoneurons suggested that the specific resistivity of the cell membrane in type S motoneurons was systematically higher than that characteristic of type FF or FR motoneurons.

2-deoxyglucose autoradiography of single motor units: labeling of individual acutely active muscle fibers

2-Deoxy-D-[l-14C]glucose (2DG) was given intravenously during repetitive stimulation of single motor units in adult cats and autoradiographs were made of frozen sections of the target muscles in order to evaluate methods designed to improve the spatial resolution of [14C]2DG autoradiography. With the modifications used, acutely active muscle fibers, independently identified by depletion of intrafiber glycogen, were associated with highly localized accumulations of silver grains over the depleted fibers. The results indicate that [14C]2DG autoradiography can successfully identify individual active muscle fibers and might in principle be used to obtain quantitative data about rates of glucose metabolism in single muscle fibers of defined histochemical type. The modifications may be applicable also to other tissues to give improved spatial resolution with [14C]-labeled metabolic markers.

Supraspinal facilitation of cutaneous polysynaptic EPSPs in cat medical gastrocnemius motoneurons

We examined the characteristics of postsynaptic potentials (PSPs) produced in antidromically-identified medical gastrocnemius (MG) alpha-motoneurons by electrical stimulation of low threshold (less than 3 x T) distal limb cutaneous afferents in the sural (SUR) nerve in adult cats anesthetized with alpha-chloralose, together with the effects of SUR PSPs of supraspinal conditioning stimulation of the contralateral red nucleus (RN) and pyramidal tract (PT). In the majority of MG motoneurons, SUR afferents with electrical thresholds less than 1.5 x T produced early excitatory synaptic potentials (EPSPs) with minimum central latency of about 2.0 ms, suggesting activation of a trisynaptic segmental pathway with two interposed interneurons. Such early EPSPs were often detectable with stimuli less than 1.2 x T, as determined by recording the compound action potential in the sciatic nerve and from the first appearance of the N1 wave of the cord dorsum potential. Inhibitory synaptic potentials (IPSPs) were regularly produced by SUR volleys of only slightly greater strength (often as low as 1.3 x T) and these had minimum central latencies of about 3.0 ms (about 1.0 ms longer than the earliest EPSPs), suggesting a three interneuron central pathway. Repetitive stimulation of RN and PT regularly produced facilitation of both EPSP and IPSP components in the SUR response, suggesting that these supraspinal systems directly or indirectly excite some of the same interneurons that convey the SUR effects to MG motoneurons. When using very low strength SUR stimuli, PT conditioning produced relatively pure facilitation of the SUR EPSPs but with larger SUr volleys, PT clearly facilitated both EPSPs and IPSPs. RN conditioning produced more parallel facilitation of SUR EPSPs and IPSPs. Supraspinal control of the polysynaptic pathway producing SUR EPSPs is of particular interest because of earlier evidence that this pathway is differentially distributed to motoneurons of fast twitch versus slow twitch MG motor units.

Discharge patterns of hindlimb motoneurons during normal cat locomotion

Long-term recording from single lumbar motoneurons of intact cats revealed activation patterns fundamentally different from those seen in decerebrate preparations. In intact cats, motoneuron bursts showed marked rate modulation without initial doublets. Each unit's frequencygram generally resembled the envelope of the gross electromyogram simultaneously recorded from the corresponding muscle. Average and peak discharge rates increased for faster gaits. These findings suggest that, in cat locomotion, rate modulation is a more important contributor to force regulation than was previously thought.

Motor unit organization of human medial gastrocnemius

1. The properties of fifty-seven motor units in human medial gastrocnemius have been studied using controlled intramuscular microstimulation, glycogen depletion and muscle biopsy. 2. Motor units could be divided into three classes on the basis of their mechanical properties. Type S units were slow, small and fatigue resistant. Type FR units were fast, intermediate in size, and fatigue resistant. Type FF units were fast, large and fatigable. 3. Glycogen depletion of a number of type S and FF units revealed them to be composed of type 1 and type 2b muscle fibres respectively. 4. The results suggest that during slowly increasing voluntary contractions where units are recruited in order of size, type 1 and 2a muscle fibres would be employed at low force levels followed by type 2b muscle fibres in stronger contractions.

The projection of jaw elevator muscle spindle afferents to fifth nerve motoneurones in the cat

1. By spike-triggered averaging of intracellular synaptic noise it has been shown in pentobarbitone anaesthetized cats that jaw elevator muscle spindle afferents with their cell bodies in the mid-brain have a relatively weak monosynaptic projection to masseter and temporalis motoneurones. 2. Extending the spike-triggered averaging method to recording extracellular excitatory field potentials it has been shown that virtually all the spindles do project monosynaptically to the motoneurone pool. It is concluded that the general weakness of the projection is due to its restriction to a small proportion of the motoneurones, possibly those concerned most with tonic postural functions. 3. The shape of individual intracellular e.p.s.p.s together with the spatial distribution of extracellular excitatory potential fields provide some evidence for a dentrically weighted distribution of the synapses. 4. Evidence is presented that both primary- and secondary-type spindle afferents project monosynaptically, the secondary effects being some 71% of the strength of the primary ones.