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Spontaneous Rhythms in the Motoneurons of Spinal Dogfish (Scyliorhinus Canicula)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

B. L. Roberts
B. L. Roberts
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge and the Plymouth Laboratory
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Extract

The swimming musculature of spinal dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula (L.), was paralysed with curare while recordings were made of the motor activity in the abdominal spinal nerves. Spontaneous, periodic motor bursts of long duration and decreasing frequency were detected during the first 2 h or so of the experiment. The spinal neurons were incapable of sustaining motor activity for more than 1 or 2 h and were dependent on proprioceptive feedback to maintain their excitability; their discharge frequency could, however, be enhanced by un-patterned sensory stimulation.

The spinal neurons on each side of the cord are sufficiently organized to dis-charge alternately but the longitudinal co-ordination of the locomotory wave is disrupted in the absence of phasic sensory excitation.

INTRODUCTION

It has been assumed that the locomotory movements of spinal dogfish, which persist with undiminished vigour for several hours, are co-ordinated in one of two ways. One possibility is that the entire periodic motor output is formulated by the nerve cells of the spinal cord (Gray & Sand, 1936 a, b; Le Mare, 1936); alternatively, it is conceivable that the motor pattern is triggered by sensory signals fed back to the spinal cord by proprioceptors stimulated during locomotory movements (ten Cate, 1933; Lissmann, 1946a, b).

Lissmann attempted to distinguish between these two general hypotheses by cutting all the dorsal roots of spinal dogfish and thereby isolating the spinal neurons from sensory stimulation. His experiments showed that the spinal animal would swim normally even when a considerable number of dorsal roots had been sectioned but as complete de-afferentation produced im-mobile preparations he concluded'that the motor rhythm was ultimately dependent on proprioceptive activity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , February 1969 , pp. 33 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1969

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