Synaptic organization of dorsal root projections to lumbar motoneurons in the clawed toad (Xenopus laevis)

Synaptic connexions between dorsal root primary afferents and lumbar motoneurons have been investigated in the isolated spinal cord of the clawed toad. The study of monosynaptic actions evoked in motoneurons by 9th or 10th dorsal root stimulation or by impulses in single primary afferents provided evidence for both electrical and chemical junctional transmission at the sensory-motor synapses. The anterograde filling of the 9th and 10th dorsal roots with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) shows that afferents do project to the motoneuron field of the segments IX and X. Some of the fibres not only reach the dorsally located motoneurons, but also cross the lateral motor column (LMC) and terminate in the marginal zone of ventral horn gray matter. The projections of the 9th and 10th dorsal root fibres are most numerous in the caudal part of segment X. Simultaneous HRP labeling of single motoneurons and the whole 10th dorsal root has revealed that afferent fibres make contacts not only on the distal dendrites of the motor cells, but also on the proximal ones. This latter finding is in a good agreement with the electrophysiological data.