The neuronal targets for GABAergic reticulospinal inhibition that stops swimming in hatchling frog tadpoles.

In most animals locomotion can be started and stopped by specific sensory cues. We are using a simple vertebrate, the hatchling Xenopus tadpole, to study a neuronal pathway that turns off locomotion. In the tadpole, swimming stops when the head contacts solid objects or the water's surface meni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Comparative Physiology A
Main Authors: Li, Wenchang, Perrins, R., Walford, A, Roberts, A
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2003
Subjects:
GABA
reticulospinal
swimming
trigeminal
Xenopus
XENOPUS-LAEVIS EMBRYOS
MOLLUSK CLIONE-LIMACINA
SPINAL-CORD
GLYCINERGIC INHIBITION
STOPPING RESPONSE
PTEROPOD MOLLUSK
PROJECTIONS
INTERNEURONS
MOTONEURONS
LOCOMOTION
Tadpole
Clione limacina
Online Access:https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/the-neuronal-targets-for-gabaergic-reticulospinal-inhibition-that-stops-swimming-in-hatchling-frog-tadpoles(8578bab2-3666-4865-9739-13c4966b1565).html
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-002-0372-0
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037263707&partnerID=8YFLogxK
http://research.bmn.com/medline/search/record?uid=MDLN.22435783
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Summary:In most animals locomotion can be started and stopped by specific sensory cues. We are using a simple vertebrate, the hatchling Xenopus tadpole, to study a neuronal pathway that turns off locomotion. In the tadpole, swimming stops when the head contacts solid objects or the water's surface meniscus. The primary sensory neurons are in the trigeminal ganglion and directly excite inhibitory reticulospinal neurons in the hindbrain. These project axons into the spinal cord and release GABA to inhibit spinal neurons and stop swimming. We ask whether there is specificity in the types of spinal neuron inhibited. We used single-neuron recording to determine which classes of spinal neurons receive inhibition when the head skin is pressed. Ventral motoneurons and premotor interneurons involved in generating the swimming rhythm receive reliable GABAergic inhibition. More dorsal inhibitory premotor interneurons are inhibited less reliably and some are excited. Dorsal sensory pathway interneurons that start swimming following a touch to the trunk skin do not appear to receive such inhibition. There is therefore specificity in the formation of descending inhibitory connections so that more ventral neurons producing swimming are most strongly inhibited.

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