Electrophysiological properties of spinal motoneurons in the adult turtle

The purpose of this study was to develop a scheme for classifying turtle motoneurons, such that their properties could be compared to those of other vertebrate species, including, in particular, the cat. A 130-cell sample of turtle motoneurons was provisionally classified into four groups (1-4) on the basis of a cluster analysis of the cells' intracellularly recorded input resistance, rheobase, and slope of their stimulus current-spike frequency relation. These measurements, using sharp microelectrodes and an in vitro spinal cord slice preparation, were particularly robust. It is argued that the cat counterpart of our turtle type 1, 2, and 3 motoneurons innervate slow-twitch muscle fibers, fast-twitch-oxidative fibers, and fast-twitch-glycolytic fibers, respectively. Our turtle type 4 motoneuron is thought analogous to a particularly high-threshold cat and human cell that innervates highly fatigable fast-twitch muscle fibers in both species. Our turtle type 1 category may include cells that innervate non-twitch muscle fibers, which are found in other non-mammalian vertebrates. To advance comparative spinal cord neurobiology, the present results invite comparison to the motoneurons of other vertebrate species, which have yet to be subjected to similar or other classification procedures.