Physiological studies of thoracic spinocerebellar tract neurons in relation to respiratory movement

The differential roles of thoracic spinocerebellar tract (SCT) neurons with axons ascending in ipsi- (uncrossed) and contralaterally (crossed) spinal cord and their activities during respiratory movement were examined by extracellular recordings in the T9-T12 spinal segments of the anaesthetized cat. A total of 36 uncrossed and 7 crossed SCT neurons showed rhythmic discharges in relation to either spontaneous or artificial respiration. Uncrossed neurons were located in and around Clarke's column and thus are cells of origin of the dorsal spinocerebellar tract (DSCT). Crossed neurons were located in laminae VII and VIII. Almost all DSCT neurons were modulated during artificial respiration. Nineteen DSCT neurons showed high-frequency discharges during chest expansion and 15 DSCT neurons showed high-frequency discharges during the chest retraction phase of artificial respiration. Their respiration-related activity maintained the same phase relation and firing patterns after vagotomy. The phase relationship of neural rhythmicity to chest movement during artificial respiration and spontaneous breathing was the same in 14 neurons examined. Artificially induced pneumothorax caused a marked decrease of respiration-related modulation, and severing of a single nerve to the appropriate muscle caused a marked decrease of modulation, suggesting that respiration-related rhythmic activity of DSCT neurons is induced by the extension of respiratory muscles in the chest wall during both spontaneous and artificial respiration. Crossed SCT neurons showed rhythmic activity in phase with the central respiratory rhythm as indexed by phrenic nerve activity. Two neurons received an excitatory influence and five an inhibitory influence in the inspiratory phase from the centre. Four neurons in the latter group also received excitatory inputs from the periphery during chest expansion. Since inspiration brings chest expansion during spontaneous breathing, the central and peripheral inputs seem antagonistic in function. These neurons seemed to signal a discrepancy between the chest wall movement and the central respiratory rhythm. Functional differences between uncrossed and crossed SCTs in the lower thoracic segments in regard to the central and peripheral inputs as observed here are similar to those observed in the lumbar SCTs during locomotion.