Issue Information

Front cover:Sacral modulation of lumbar motor output. Stimulation of sacrocaudal afferents, is a powerful initiator and modulator of the locomotor rhythm in the isolated spinal cord of newborn rodents. This stimulation activates sacral relay neurons that project via the ventral funiculi (VF) to lumbar motoneurons and to the locomotor networks. Mono/oligo synaptic connectivity between some of the sacral VF neurons and lumbar motoneurons is proposed to regulate the motor output, initiated by sacrocaudal afferents stimulation, and contribute to its cholinergic modulation (e.g. Matzner et al., this issue).The existence of this connectivity is demonstrated in a confocal image showing Texas red dextran back-fill of S2 spinal neurons (red), through cut VF (ventral funiculus) bundles at the lumbosacral junction, that co-labeled (yellow) some of the previously labeled PRV (pseudorabies virus). GFP pre-motoneurons (green), ~40h following injection PRV.GFP to the gluteus maximus muscle (Cherniak, Hassidov, Lev-Tov unpublished data).
Source: Journal of Neurochemistry - Category: Neuroscience Tags: Issue Information Source Type: research