Renshaw cells

The name Renshaw cells has been given to a group of inhibitory interneurons in the ventral horn of the vertebrate spinal cord in honor of B. Renshaw who first described them. Renshaw cells were the first type of spinal interneurons to be functionally, morphologically, and pharmacologically identified (Eccles et al., 1954; see Baldissera et al., 1981; Jankowska, 1992) and belong to the most extensively analyzed populations of spinal interneurons. Synaptic actions of Renshaw cells have been studied in most detail in the cat, but they have also been found, whenever investigated, in other species (including rat, mouse, chicken, monkey, and human). Renshaw cells have been of particular interest as the neurons most tightly coupled to spinal motor output neurons (motoneurons). Another reason for the continuous interest in Renshaw cells might be that they are one of the types of spinal interneurons most easily recognizable, in whole animals as well as in isolated spinal cord preparations and in spinal cord slices. Furthermore, neuronal networks including Renshaw cells have been of interest as models of negative feedback networks operating in different parts of the central nervous system.