Spinal and Supraspinal Control of the Direction of Stepping during Locomotion

Most bipeds and quadrupeds, in addition to forward walking, are also capable of backward and sideward walking. The direction of walking is determined by the direction of stepping movements of individual limbs in relation to the front-to-rear body axis. Our goal was to assess the functional organization of the system controlling the direction of stepping. Experiments were performed on decerebrate cats walking on the treadmill with their hindlimbs, whereas the head and trunk were rigidly fixed. Different directions of the treadmill motion relative to the body axis were used (0, ±45, ±90, and 180°). For each direction, we compared locomotion evoked from the brainstem (by stimulation of the mesencephalic locomotor region, MLR) with locomotion evoked by epidural stimulation of the spinal cord (SC). It was found that SC stimulation evoked well coordinated stepping movements at different treadmill directions. The direction of steps was opposite to the treadmill motion, suggesting that this direction was determined by sensory input from the limb during stance. Thus, SC stimulation activates limb controllers, which are able to generate stepping movements in different directions. By contrast, MLR stimulation evoked well coordinated stepping movements only if the treadmill was moving in the front-to-rear direction. One can conclude that supraspinal commands (caused by MLR stimulation) select one of the numerous forms of operation of the spinal limb controllers, namely, the forward walking. The MLR can thus be considered as a command center for forward locomotion, which is the main form of progression in bipeds and quadrupeds.

• Publication year

  2012

• Venue

  Journal of Neuroscience

• Publication date

  2012-11-28

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3757-12.2012PMID 23197735PMCID PMC3521535
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• The mesencephalic locomotor region functions as a command center for forward locomotion rather than for arbitrary stepping directions.

  Confidence 0.90

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• Supraspinal commands elicited by mesencephalic locomotor region stimulation select forward walking as one operational mode of spinal limb controllers.

  Confidence 0.93

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• Mesencephalic locomotor region stimulation produced well coordinated stepping only when treadmill motion was aligned in the front-to-rear direction.

  Confidence 0.96

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• Spinal cord stimulation evoked well coordinated stepping across treadmill directions, and the step direction was opposite to treadmill motion, consistent with stance-phase sensory input shaping the stepping direction.

  Confidence 0.97

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review

• forward walking

  locomotor pattern

  Locomotor stepping directed in the front-to-rear body direction.

  Aliases: forward locomotion

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• limb controllers

  control system

  Spinal control mechanisms that generate stepping movements of individual limbs.

  Aliases: spinal limb controllers

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• mesencephalic locomotor region stimulation

  stimulation method

  Stimulation of a brainstem locomotor area used to evoke locomotion in the decerebrate cat preparation.

  Aliases: MLR stimulation

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• sensory input from the limb during stance

  sensory input

  Afferent feedback from the limb while it is in the stance phase and supporting body weight.

  Aliases: stance sensory input, limb sensory input during stance

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• spinal cord stimulation

  stimulation method

  Epidural stimulation applied to the spinal cord to activate locomotor circuits in the cat preparation.

  Aliases: SC stimulation, epidural stimulation of the spinal cord

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• treadmill direction relative to body axis

  experimental condition

  The orientation of treadmill motion with respect to the animal's front-to-rear body axis.

  Aliases: direction of treadmill motion relative to the body axis, treadmill direction

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAnonymous (12632b8b5f) reviewAK (4715169a40) review

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