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Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat

9. Differential behavioural defects after spinal cord lesions interrupting defined pathways from higher centres to motoneurones

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Summary

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relative role of the C3-C4 propriospinal neurones (PNs) and of neuronal networks within the forelimb segments for precise forelimb movements.

The effects of different spinal cord lesions were investigated on the ability of cats to retrieve food with the forelimb from the bottom of a narrow horizontal or vertical tube. The test movements, which are known to depend on the cortico- and/or rubrospinal tracts (Gorska and Sybirska 1980a, b), are subdivided into the target-reaching movement by which the paw is brought in contact with the food, and the food-taking movement, consisting of toe grasping and paw supination which are components of the movement by which the cat brings the food to the mouth.

The following lesions were made ipsilaterally to the tested limb:

  1. 1.

    A dorsal lesion in C5 interrupting the cortico- and rubrospinal input to the forelimb segments (four cats).

  2. 2.

    A dorsal lesion in C2 interrupting the cortico- and rubrospinal input to the C3-C4 PNs and the forelimb segments (four cats).

  3. 3.

    A ventral lesion in C5 interrupting the descending axons of the C3-C4 PNs and bulbospinal fibres to forelimb segments (three cats).

  4. 4.

    A ventral lesion in C2 interrupting bulbospinal fibres and ascending collaterals from the C3-C4 PNs (two cats).

  5. 5.

    A ventral lesion in C2 and a dorsal lesion in C5 sparing the cortico- and rubrospinal input to the C3-C4 PNs and their axons to the forelimb segments (one cat).

  6. 6.

    Hemisection in C2, except the dorsal column (two cats).

Severe short-term impairment of the food-taking movement was observed after lesion 1, 2, 5, or 6, but not after lesion 3 or 4. The target-reaching movement was severely impaired after lesion 2, 3, or 6 but not after lesion 1, 4, or 5. The defect after lesion 3 was not in the lifting of the limb but in the appearance of gross ataxia in aiming at the target with the paw.

It is postulated that the C3-C4 PNs can transmit to forelimb motoneurones the command for target-reaching but not for food-taking, which depends on direct activation of neuronal networks within the forelimb segments from the cortico- and/or rubrospinal tracts.

Long-term recovery of the limb lifting in the target-reaching movement occurred after all lesions. A partial recovery of the food-taking movement occurred after lesions 1 and 2 but not after lesions 5 and 6 which also included the ventral part of the lateral funicle; the recovery is assumed to depend on reticulospinal control of networks within the forelimb segments.

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Author notes

  1. E. Sybirska

    Present address: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093, Warsaw, Poland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Göteborg, Box 33031, S-400 33, Göteborg, Sweden

    B. Alstermark,  A. Lundberg, U. Norrsell & E. Sybirska

Authors
  1. B. Alstermark
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  2. A. Lundberg
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  3. U. Norrsell
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  4. E. Sybirska
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Additional information

This work was supported by the Swedish Medical Research Council (Projects No. 94 and 2857)

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Alstermark, B., Lundberg, A., Norrsell, U. et al. Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat. Exp Brain Res 42, 299–318 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237496

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