A molecular rheostat: Kv2.1 currents maintain or suppress repetitive firing in motoneurons

Persistent sodium currents and repetitive firing in motoneurons of the sacrocaudal spinal cord of adult rats.

Months after sacral spinal transection in rats (chronic spinal rats), motoneurons below the injury exhibit large, low-threshold persistent inward currents (PICs), composed of persistent sodium currents (Na PICs) and persistent calcium currents (Ca PICs). Here, we studied whether motoneurons of normal adult rats also exhibited Na and Ca PICs when the spinal cord was acutely transected at the sac...

Endogenous monoamine receptor activation is essential for enabling persistent sodium currents and repetitive firing in rat spinal motoneurons.

The spinal cord and spinal motoneurons are densely innervated by terminals of serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) neurons arising mostly from the brain stem, but also from intrinsic spinal neurons. Even after long-term spinal transection (chronic spinal), significant amounts (10%) of 5-HT and NE (monoamines) remain caudal to the injury. To determine the role of such endogenous monoamines, ...

Repetitive Firing in Rat Spinal Motoneurons Essential for Enabling Persistent Sodium Currents and Endogenous Monoamine Receptor Activation Is

Oscillations in inspiratory synaptic inputs: role in controlling the repetitive firing behaviour of inspiratory motoneurons

Summation of effective synaptic currents and firing rate modulation in cat spinal motoneurons.

The aim of this study was to examine how cat spinal motoneurons integrate the synaptic currents generated by the concurrent activation of large groups of presynaptic neurons. We obtained intracellular recordings from cat triceps surae motoneurons and measured the effects of repetitive activity in different sets of presynaptic neurons produced by electrical stimulation of descending fibers or pe...