Fictive locomotion in the adult thalamic rat

In immobilized adult thalamic rats, electrical stimulation of sites within the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) or the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR) were found to elicit fictive locomotor patterns in hindlimb muscle nerves. Significant differences were found between several characteristics (average cycle period, locomotor episode duration, intralimb and interlimb coordination patterns) of the LHA-induced and MLR-induced fictive locomotor activities. These findings support the hypothesis that LHA and MLR play different functional roles during locomotion.