A neuronal mechanism for sensory gating during locomotion in a vertebrate
Abstract
The response of the foot to touch during walking depends on whether it is in the air or on the ground. In most animals, reflex responses to external stimuli are similarly adapted to their timing in the locomotor cycle, but there is only fragmentary information about the neural mechanisms involved. In arthropods, reflex modulation can occur in the sensory receptors themselves and in neurons that discharge during locomotion. By recording with dye-filled microelectrodes from neurons in the spinal cord of frog embryos, we describe reflex modulation at the level of sensory interneurons. Sensory inputs from skin receptors excite a specific class of spinal sensory interneuron whose activity leads to reflex bending of the body away from the stimulus. During swimming, these inputs are gated by rhythmic postsynaptic inhibition, so that sensory drive reaches motor neurons only at phases in the locomotor cycle when the resulting contraction would likewise turn the embryo away from the stimulated side. Such gating of sensory pathways could be a general feature of all locomotor systems where responses to sensory stimuli need to be adapted to the phase of locomotion.
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A CD regulatory circuitry remarkably similar to that of C. elegans modulates Xenopus laevis tadpole avoidance reflexes during locomotion.
“A comparable problem is faced by Xenopus laevis tadpoles during locomotion, and a CD regulatory circuitry remarkably similar to that of C. elegans modulates their avoidance reflexes9.”
From Corollary discharge across the animal kingdom (2008) · cites this paper as [9]
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Dynamic Sensorimotor Interactions in Locomotion
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- Authors
- Sillar, K. T., & Roberts, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 1988-01
- Volume
- 331
- Issue
- 6153
- Pages
- 262-265
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2039629308
- Cited by
- 121
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 3.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- sensory gating, locomotion, frog embryo, postsynaptic inhibition, skin receptors, reflex modulation, spinal cord, swimming
- MeSH terms
- Action Potentials, Animals, Immobilization, Interneurons, Larva, Neural Pathways, Reflex, Swimming, Touch, Xenopus laevis
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