RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Dance, Turtle, Dance
JF Science's STKE
JO Sci. STKE
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP tw32
OP tw32
DO 10.1126/stke.3702007tw32
VO 2007
IS 370
A1 Stern, Peter
YR 2007
UL http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2007/370/tw32.abstract
AB The basic spinal network mechanisms underlying limb movements are still not fully understood. Investigating spinal cord preparations from adult turtles, Berg et al. describe how spinal networks operate during motor pattern generation. Balanced increases in synaptic excitation and inhibition operate in spinal motor neurons to produce rhythmic bursts of action potentials that are stochastic in nature. This activity contrasts strongly with the classical notion that antiphasic inhibition and excitation produces rhythmic activity in oscillatory spinal networks (see Kristan for commentary). R. W. Berg, A. Alaburda, J. Hounsgaard, Balanced inhibition and excitation drive spike activity in spinal half-centers. Science 315, 390-393 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text] W. B. Kristan, A push-me pull-you neural design. Science 315, 339-340 (2007). [Summary] [Full Text]