Serial E-M and simulation study of presynaptic inhibition along a group Ia collateral in the spinal cord

1. A muscle spindle primary afferent (group Ia) was physiologically identified and labeled intracellularly with the use of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in the cat lumbar spinal cord. Serial-section electron microscopy (EM) was used to examine and reconstruct an entire axon collateral and its branches within Clarke's column. In the present study the existence and location of presynaptic contacts on Ia afferent boutons along these collateral branches were determined from examination of the serial-section electron-micrographs. 2. Of 36 Ia boutons examined in serial sections along the branches of the same collateral, 3 presynaptic contacts were found. Two of these contacts were made with Ia boutons in a complex nodal region consisting of two unmyelinated side branches exhibiting a total of six Ia boutons. The other presynaptic contact was made with a Ia bouton in a nodal region consisting of two Ia boutons connected by a thin unmyelinated bridge. 3. Computer simulations, based directly on the serial-section-reconstructions, were used to investigate the possible effects of these presynaptic contacts on membrane potential and on a propagating action potential along the Ia collateral. The effect of a presynaptic contact was modeled by a sustained gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA)-activated chloride conductance. 4. The simulation results indicated that the effect of a presynaptic contact on membrane potential and action-potential amplitude is likely to extend beyond the contacted bouton to other boutons occurring along the short unmyelinated branches arising from the same node.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)