Interneuronal basis of the generation of related but distinct motor programs in Aplysia: implications for current neuronal models of vertebrate intralimb coordination.

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Coordination of two sets of movements, protraction-retraction versus opening-closing, of the feeding apparatus (the radula) in ingestive and egestive motor programs of Aplysia resembles vertebrate intralimb coordination in that the relative timing of the two sets of movements differs in the two motor programs. In both ingestion and egestion, radula protraction and retraction alternate, whereas radula closure shifts its phase relative to protraction-retraction. In egestion, the radula closes in protraction; in ingestion, the radula closes in retraction. In both ingestive and egestive motor programs elicited by the command-like neuron, cerebral-buccal interneuron-2 (CBI-2), the protraction and retraction movements are mediated by the same sets of controller interneurons. In contrast, radula closure is mediated by two controller interneurons, B20 and B40, that are preferentially active in egestion and ingestion, respectively. In egestion, B20, active in protraction, drives closure motorneuron B8 in protraction, whereas in ingestion, B40, also active in protraction, uses a functionally novel mechanism, fast inhibition and slow excitation, to drive B8 in retraction. Our findings are summarized in a neural model that permits a conceptual comparison of our model with two previous hypothetical models of intralimb coordination in spinal circuits that were proposed by Grillner (1981, 1985) and Berkowitz and Stein (1994). Although our model supports the existence of separate controllers for different movements as in the Grillner (1981, 1985) model; in terms of basic mechanisms, our model is similar to the Berkowitz and Stein (1994) model because the closure movement is mediated by separate controllers in different programs, and thus both models can be classified as recruitment models.