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This thesis examined two aspects of information processing by the feline spinal cord during centrally-evoked motor activity: 1) the modification of transmission from different sensory afferents and 2) the neuronal elements of reflex pathways from group II muscle afferents during fictive motor behaviours (i.e motoneuron activity under neuromuscular blockade). Fictive locomotion was evoked by electrical stimulation in the midbrain and fictive scratch was triggered by stimulation of the skin covering the ears following curare application to cervical dorsal roots in decerebrate in vivo feline preparations. Both monosynaptic and longer latency components of muscle and cutaneous afferent-evoked field potentials were reduced in amplitude during fictive locomotion and scratch, but field potentials evoked by muscle group II afferents were suppressed more than those evoked by cutaneous and group I muscle afferents recorded at the same spinal locations. The novel finding, that field potentials evoked at the same spinal locations by muscle and cutaneous afferents are suprressed differently, suggests that there is a preferential and non-uniform control of transmission from muscle and cutaneous fibres during motor activity. Extracellular recordings from neurons within the lumbar spinal segments showed that suppression of group II afferent input during fictive motor activity results in a powerful reduction of the activation of neurons with input from muscle group II afferents in 93% of the examined neurons after short trains of stimuli were delivered to peripheral nerves. However, more neurons remained recruitable by group II intensity stimulation if train duration was sufficiently long with only 33% showing a reduction in sensory-evoked firing. The majority of the neurons that remained responsive to muscle group II afferent input during fictive locomotion had axonal projections to supralumbar, or supraspinal areas and showed spontaneous, often rhythmic, firing activity. Overall, the studies presented in this thesis provide insights into the mechanisms by which the mammalian spinal cord processes sensory information and on how sensory input is able to control motor activity in spite of suppressive control provided by the nervous system.

Reflex control during walking has been shown to be specific to the behavioural context of a postural threat. Reflex modulation has been shown to be influenced by perturbations to the trunk, as well as by changes to arm activity that further affected the level of postural threat. The magnitudes of EMG responses in limbs and trunk to mechanical trip perturbations were differentially modulated depending on whether or not an earth- referenced railing was held. To further understand the neural control of limb and trunk muscles during walking contexts where changes to postural stability are solely linked to arm activity, we created 3 treadmill walking tasks each with the arms engaged differently to induce three levels of postural stability. Neurologically-intact participants walked on a treadmill using normal arm swing (NORMAL), holding a wheeled walker (WALKER), or holding the handrails (HANDRAIL). Subjects ranked the tasks according to degree of perceived challenge to stability; WALKER was ranked most challenging, followed by NORMAL and then HANDRAIL. Cutaneous reflexes were evoked via constant current stimulation (5 x 1.0 ms pulses at 300 Hz) of Superficial Peroneal (SP) nerve at the foot and Superficial Radial (SR) nerve at the wrist in separate trials during each walking task. EMG was recorded ipsilateral to nerve stimulation from arm and leg muscles and bilaterally from trunk muscles. Off-line analysis was conducted on eight phases of the step cycle after phase-averaging, contingent upon the timing of stimulation in the step cycle. The number of differences in bEMG and reflexes between tasks was graded with the proximity to the source of instability at the arms, progressively increasing from the legs to the arms. The gradient in bEMG differences suggests that the mechanical constraints of each task required different levels of muscle activation that was greatest for the arms, less for the trunk and least for the legs. The similar gradient seen for reflexes suggests functionally relevant changes in neural control of arm and trunk muscles in order to maintain postural stability during in each task. However, overall there were significantly fewer differences in reflexes between tasks compared to bEMG. We suggest that the mechanical constraints of the tasks yielded more significant changes in the muscle activation while requiring far fewer task-specific changes in reflex control suggesting a conservation of some elements of the neural control mechanisms across tasks. / Graduate

This thesis examined two aspects of information processing by the feline spinal cord during centrally-evoked motor activity: 1) the modification of transmission from different sensory afferents and 2) the neuronal elements of reflex pathways from group II muscle afferents during fictive motor behaviours (i.e motoneuron activity under neuromuscular blockade). Fictive locomotion was evoked by electrical stimulation in the midbrain and fictive scratch was triggered by stimulation of the skin covering the ears following curare application to cervical dorsal roots in decerebrate in vivo feline preparations. Both monosynaptic and longer latency components of muscle and cutaneous afferent-evoked field potentials were reduced in amplitude during fictive locomotion and scratch, but field potentials evoked by muscle group II afferents were suppressed more than those evoked by cutaneous and group I muscle afferents recorded at the same spinal locations. The novel finding, that field potentials evoked at the same spinal locations by muscle and cutaneous afferents are suprressed differently, suggests that there is a preferential and non-uniform control of transmission from muscle and cutaneous fibres during motor activity. Extracellular recordings from neurons within the lumbar spinal segments showed that suppression of group II afferent input during fictive motor activity results in a powerful reduction of the activation of neurons with input from muscle group II afferents in 93% of the examined neurons after short trains of stimuli were delivered to peripheral nerves. However, more neurons remained recruitable by group II intensity stimulation if train duration was sufficiently long with only 33% showing a reduction in sensory-evoked firing. The majority of the neurons that remained responsive to muscle group II afferent input during fictive locomotion had axonal projections to supralumbar, or supraspinal areas and showed spontaneous, often rhythmic, firing activity. Overall, the studies presented in this thesis provide insights into the mechanisms by which the mammalian spinal cord processes sensory information and on how sensory input is able to control motor activity in spite of suppressive control provided by the nervous system.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst. / Härtill 7 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Statistics, 1978.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2002. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northeastern University, 2008. / Title from title page (viewed March 17, 2009). Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-119).

Thesis (M.S. in Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation (MOVES))--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Darken, Rudolph. "March 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on May 6, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Locomotion, Virtual Walking, Taxonomy, Virtual Environments Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-102). Also available in print.

Thesis (M. App. Sc.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-74). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.