Interneurones in pathways from group II muscle afferents in the lower-lumbar segments of the feline spinal cord.

Abstract

Interneurones receiving excitatory input from group II muscle afferents of hindlimb nerves and located in the lower-lumbar (L6-L7) segments of the cat spinal cord were investigated using both extracellular and intracellular recording. The interneurones were located mainly in the lateral parts of laminae IV-VII, dorsal and lateral to the main region in which interneurones with input from group I muscle afferents are located. Almost half the sample of interneurones (38 of 76) were characterized by an ipsilateral ascending projection within the lateral funiculus to the L4 level. The most powerful group II excitation was produced by afferents of the quadriceps and deep peroneal muscle nerves (which discharged 70-80% of extracellularly recorded neurones) while group II afferents of tibialis posterior, posterior biceps-semitendinosus and gastrocnemius soleus were also highly effective (discharging 45-55% of extracellularly recorded neurones). A proportion of intracellularly recorded group II EPSPs were monosynaptic. Seventy-five per cent of the extracellularly recorded interneurones were discharged by group II afferents of two or more muscle nerves and 43% by afferents of three or more nerves. Group I muscle afferents evoked small EPSPs in over one-quarter of the intracellularly recorded interneurones and virtually all were strongly excited by cutaneous afferents. Evidence of excitatory input from joint, interosseous and group III muscle afferents was also observed. The properties of the interneurones are compared with those of others in the lumbosacral segments and the possibility that they may function as last-order premotor interneurones is discussed.