Author:
Mari Stephen,Lecomte Charly G.,Merlet Angèle N.,Audet Johannie,Harnie Jonathan,Rybak Ilya A.,Prilutsky Boris I.,Frigon Alain
Abstract
IntroductionDuring locomotion, cutaneous reflexes play an essential role in rapidly responding to an external perturbation, for example, to prevent a fall when the foot contacts an obstacle. In cats and humans, cutaneous reflexes involve all four limbs and are task- and phase modulated to generate functionally appropriate whole-body responses.MethodsTo assess task-dependent modulation of cutaneous interlimb reflexes, we electrically stimulated the superficial radial or superficial peroneal nerves in adult cats and recorded muscle activity in the four limbs during tied-belt (equal left-right speeds) and split-belt (different left-right speeds) locomotion.ResultsWe show that the pattern of intra- and interlimb cutaneous reflexes in fore- and hindlimbs muscles and their phase-dependent modulation were conserved during tied-belt and split-belt locomotion. Short-latency cutaneous reflex responses to muscles of the stimulated limb were more likely to be evoked and phase-modulated when compared to muscles in the other limbs. In some muscles, the degree of reflex modulation was significantly reduced during split-belt locomotion compared to tied-belt conditions. Split-belt locomotion increased the step-by-step variability of left-right symmetry, particularly spatially.DiscussionThese results suggest that sensory signals related to left-right symmetry reduce cutaneous reflex modulation, potentially to avoid destabilizing an unstable pattern.
Funder
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
National Institutes of Health
Subject
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience,Cognitive Neuroscience,Developmental Neuroscience,Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
Cited by
8 articles.
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