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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

In Vivo Intracellular Recording of Type-Identified Rat Spinal Motoneurons During Trans-Spinal Direct Current Stimulation
Published on: May 11, 2020
Recurrent excitation between motoneurones propagates across segments and is purely glutamatergic
Gardave S Bhumbra1, Marco Beato1
1Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Spinal motoneurones (Mns) constitute the final output for the execution of motor tasks. In addition to innervating muscles, Mns project excitatory collateral connections to Renshaw cells (RCs) and other Mns, but the latter have received little attention. We show that Mns receive strong synaptic input from other Mns throughout development and into maturity, with fast-type Mns systematically receiving greater recurrent excitation than slow-type Mns. Optical recordings show that activation of Mns in one spinal segment can propagate to adjacent segments even in the presence of intact recurrent inhibition. While it is known that transmission at the neuromuscular junction is purely cholinergic and RCs are excited through both acetylcholine and glutamate receptors, here we show that neurotransmission between Mns is purely glutamatergic, indicating that synaptic transmission systems are differentiated at different postsynaptic targets of Mns.
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