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McPherson JG, McPherson LM, Thompson CK, Ellis MD, Heckman CJ, Dewald JPA. Altered Neuromodulatory Drive May Contribute to Exaggerated Tonic Vibration Reflexes in Chronic Hemiparetic Stroke. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:131. [PMID: 29686611 PMCID: PMC5900019 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2017] [Accepted: 03/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Exaggerated stretch-sensitive reflexes are a common finding in elbow flexors of the contralesional arm in chronic hemiparetic stroke, particularly when muscles are not voluntarily activated prior to stretch. Previous investigations have suggested that this exaggeration could arise either from an abnormal tonic ionotropic drive to motoneuron pools innervating the paretic limbs, which could bring additional motor units near firing threshold, or from an increased influence of descending monoaminergic neuromodulatory pathways, which could depolarize motoneurons and amplify their responses to synaptic inputs. However, previous investigations have been unable to differentiate between these explanations, leaving the source(s) of this excitability increase unclear. Here, we used tonic vibration reflexes (TVRs) during voluntary muscle contractions of increasing magnitude to infer the sources of spinal motor excitability in individuals with chronic hemiparetic stroke. We show that when the paretic and non-paretic elbow flexors are preactivated to the same percentage of maximum prior to vibration, TVRs remain significantly elevated in the paretic arm. We also show that the rate of vibration-induced torque development increases as a function of increasing preactivation in the paretic limb, even though the amplitude of vibration-induced torque remains conspicuously unchanged as preactivation increases. It is highly unlikely that these findings could be explained by a source that is either purely ionotropic or purely neuromodulatory, because matching preactivation should control for the effects of a potential ionotropic drive (and lead to comparable tonic vibration reflex responses between limbs), while a purely monoaminergic mechanism would increase reflex magnitude as a function of preactivation. Thus, our results suggest that increased excitability of motor pools innervating the paretic limb post-stroke is likely to arise from both ionotropic and neuromodulatory mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob G McPherson
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States.,Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Laura M McPherson
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States.,Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States.,Department of Physical Therapy, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States
| | - Christopher K Thompson
- Department of Physical Therapy, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.,Department of Physiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Michael D Ellis
- Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Charles J Heckman
- Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States.,Department of Physiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Julius P A Dewald
- Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
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Abstract
The adult decerebrate mouse model (a mouse with the cerebrum removed) enables the study of sensory-motor integration and motor output from the spinal cord for several hours without compromising these functions with anesthesia. For example, the decerebrate mouse is ideal for examining locomotor behavior using intracellular recording approaches, which would not be possible using current anesthetized preparations. This protocol describes the steps required to achieve a low-blood-loss decerebration in the mouse and approaches for recording signals from spinal cord neurons with a focus on motoneurons. The protocol also describes an example application for the protocol: the evocation of spontaneous and actively driven stepping, including optimization of these behaviors in decerebrate mice. The time taken to prepare the animal and perform a decerebration takes ∼2 h, and the mice are viable for up to 3-8 h, which is ample time to perform most short-term procedures. These protocols can be modified for those interested in cardiovascular or respiratory function in addition to motor function and can be performed by trainees with some previous experience in animal surgery.
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Dean JC, Clair-Auger JM, Lagerquist O, Collins DF. Asynchronous recruitment of low-threshold motor units during repetitive, low-current stimulation of the human tibial nerve. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:1002. [PMID: 25566025 PMCID: PMC4267276 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.01002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2014] [Accepted: 11/25/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Motoneurons receive a barrage of inputs from descending and reflex pathways. Much of our understanding about how these inputs are transformed into motor output in humans has come from recordings of single motor units during voluntary contractions. This approach, however, is limited because the input is ill-defined. Herein, we quantify the discharge of soleus motor units in response to well-defined trains of afferent input delivered at physiologically-relevant frequencies. Constant frequency stimulation of the tibial nerve (10–100 Hz for 30 s), below threshold for eliciting M-waves or H-reflexes with a single pulse, recruited motor units in 7/9 subjects. All 25 motor units recruited during stimulation were also recruited during weak (<10% MVC) voluntary contractions. Higher frequencies recruited more units (n = 3/25 at 10 Hz; n = 25/25 at 100 Hz) at shorter latencies (19.4 ± 9.4 s at 10 Hz; 4.1 ± 4.0 s at 100 Hz) than lower frequencies. When a second unit was recruited, the discharge of the already active unit did not change, suggesting that recruitment was not due to increased synaptic drive. After recruitment, mean discharge rate during stimulation at 20 Hz (7.8 Hz) was lower than during 30 Hz (8.6 Hz) and 40 Hz (8.4 Hz) stimulation. Discharge was largely asynchronous from the stimulus pulses with “time-locked” discharge occurring at an H-reflex latency with only a 24% probability. Motor units continued to discharge after cessation of the stimulation in 89% of trials, although at a lower rate (5.8 Hz) than during the stimulation (7.9 Hz). This work supports the idea that the afferent volley evoked by repetitive stimulation recruits motor units through the integration of synaptic drive and intrinsic properties of motoneurons, resulting in “physiological” recruitment which adheres to Henneman’s size principle and results in relatively low discharge rates and asynchronous firing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesse C Dean
- Division of Physical Therapy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston South Carolina, USA
| | - Joanna M Clair-Auger
- Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation and Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Olle Lagerquist
- Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - David F Collins
- Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation and Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Heckman CJ, Johnson M, Mottram C, Schuster J. Persistent inward currents in spinal motoneurons and their influence on human motoneuron firing patterns. Neuroscientist 2008; 14:264-75. [PMID: 18381974 PMCID: PMC3326417 DOI: 10.1177/1073858408314986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 191] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Persistent inward currents (PICs) are present in many types of neurons and likely have diverse functions. In spinal motoneurons, PICs are especially strong, primarily located in dendritic regions, and subject to particularly strong neuromodulation by the monoamines serotonin and norepinephrine. Because motoneurons drive muscle fibers, it has been possible to study the functional role of their PICs in motor output and to identify PIC-mediated effects on motoneuron firing patterns in human subjects. The PIC markedly amplifies synaptic input, up to fivefold or more, depending on the level of monoaminergic input. PICs also tend to greatly prolong input time course, allowing brief inputs to initiate long-lasting self-sustained firing (i.e., bistable behavior). PIC deactivation usually requires inhibitory input and PIC amplitude can increase to repeated activation. All of these behaviors markedly increase motoneuron excitability. Thus, in the absence of monoaminergic input, motoneuron excitability is very low. Yet PICs have another effect: once active, they tend to sharply limit efficacy of additional synaptic input. All of these PIC effects have been detected in motoneuron firing patterns in human subjects and, hence, PICs are likely a fundamental component of normal motor output.
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Affiliation(s)
- C J Heckman
- Department of Physiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
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