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Updated: Feb 2, 2026

High-Resolution Video Tracking of Locomotion in Adult Drosophila Melanogaster
Published on: February 20, 2009
Taking a Big Step towards Understanding Locomotion
1Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm, CNRS, AP-HP, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM) - Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Boulevard de l'hôpital, F-75013, Paris, France.
Abstract:
Locomotion is generated by intrinsically oscillating circuits in the spinal cord that are modulated by information from the brain and periphery. In their seminal 1987 publication, Buchanan and Grillner provided for the first time evidence for excitatory spinal neurons receiving inputs from descending commands and sensory afferents, and synapsing onto motoneurons and commissural inhibitory interneurons. These critical findings established the circuit model for central pattern generators incorporating excitatory interneurons' role in the rhythm-production mechanism.
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