Functional regeneration following spinal transection demonstrated in the isolated spinal cord of the larval sea lamprey.
Axons in the larval sea lamprey can regenerate across the site of a spinal cord transection and form functioning synapses with some of their normal target neurons. The animals recover normal-appearing locomotion, but whether the regenerating axons and their synaptic connections are capable of playing a functional role during this behavior is unknown. To test this, "fictive" swimming was induced in the isolated spinal cord by the addition of D-glutamate to the bathing solution. Ventral root discharges of segments above and below a healed transection showed a high degree of phase-locking. This strongly suggests that the behavioral recovery is mediated by regenerated functional synaptic connections subserving intersegmental coordination of the central pattern generator for locomotion.
Cohen
A H
AH
Mackler
S A
SA
Selzer
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ME
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D007798:Lampreys / Q000502:physiology*; D008124:Locomotion; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D010507:Periodicity; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology