Europe PMC

This website requires cookies, and the limited processing of your personal data in order to function. By using the site you are agreeing to this as outlined in our privacy notice and cookie policy.

Abstract 


Bistability in spinal motoneurons supports tonic spike activity in the absence of excitatory drive. Earlier work in adult preparations suggested that smaller motoneurons innervating slow antigravity muscle fibers are more likely to generate bistability for postural maintenance. However, whether large motoneurons innervating fast-fatigable muscle fibers display bistability is still controversial. To address this, we examined the relationship between soma size and bistability in lumbar (L4-L5) ventrolateral α-motoneurons of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-green fluorescent protein (GFP) and Hb9-GFP mice during the first 4 wk of life. We found that as neuron size increases, the prevalence of bistability rises. Smaller α-motoneurons lack bistability, whereas larger fast α-motoneurons [matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9)+/Hb9+] with a soma area ≥ 400 µm2 exhibit significantly higher bistability. Ionic currents associated with bistability, including the persistent Nav1.6 current, the thermosensitive Trpm5 Ca2+-activated Na+ current, and the slowly inactivating Kv1.2 current, also scale with cell size. Serotonin evokes full bistability in large motoneurons with partial bistable properties but not in small motoneurons. Our study provides important insights into the neural mechanisms underlying bistability and how motoneuron size correlates with bistability in mice.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Bistability is not a common feature of all mouse spinal motoneurons. It is absent in small, slow motoneurons but present in most large, fast motoneurons. This difference results from differential expression of ionic currents that enable bistability, which are highly expressed in large motoneurons but small or absent in small motoneurons. These results support a possible role for fast motoneurons in maintenance of tonic posture in addition to their known roles in fast movements.

References 


Articles referenced by this article (55)


Show 10 more references (10 of 55)

Citations & impact 


Impact metrics

Jump to Citations

Alternative metrics

Altmetric item for https://www.altmetric.com/details/160098807
Altmetric
Discover the attention surrounding your research
https://www.altmetric.com/details/160098807

Article citations

Similar Articles 


To arrive at the top five similar articles we use a word-weighted algorithm to compare words from the Title and Abstract of each citation.

Funding 


Funders who supported this work.

Agence Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (1)

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

    Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

      Fonds d'investissement INT (1)

      Fonds d'investissement INT (1)

      HHS | NIH | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (1)

      HHS | NIH | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) (1)

      NINDS NIH HHS (3)