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Locomotor activities in the decerebrate bird without phasic afferent input
G N Sholomenko1, G D Funk, J D Steeves
1Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Neuroscience
|January 1, 1991
Summary
Phasic afferent input is not essential for avian locomotion. Birds can generate similar locomotor patterns even when sensory feedback is blocked, though some parameters change.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Animal Locomotion
- Motor Control
Background:
- Avian locomotion involves complex coordination of forelimbs and hindlimbs.
- The role of sensory feedback in generating these patterns is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if phasic afferent input from limbs is a prerequisite for avian locomotor pattern production.
- To characterize neural activity during fictive locomotion in paralyzed birds.
Main Methods:
- Utilized decerebrate birds, inducing neuromuscular paralysis to eliminate phasic afferent feedback.
- Recorded neural activity during spontaneous and stimulated fictive locomotion.
- Compared kinematic and dynamic parameters of fictive locomotion with pre-paralysis locomotion.
Main Results:
- Paralyzed decerebrate birds produced similar locomotor patterns to unparalyzed preparations.
- Stimulus thresholds to evoke locomotion increased significantly after paralysis.
- Frequencies of leg and wing activity decreased post-paralysis.
- Extensor burst duration increased, altering burst proportion in the step cycle.
Conclusions:
- Phasic afferent feedback is not strictly required for generating avian locomotor patterns.
- Sensory feedback plays a modulatory role, particularly influencing extensor burst duration.
- The central nervous system can generate robust locomotor output independently of afferent input.