The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 80 No. 1 July 1998, pp. 241-248
Copyright ©1998 The American Physiological Society

Distribution of Effective Synaptic Currents in Cat Triceps Surae Motoneurons. VI. Contralateral Pyramidal Tract

Marc D. Binder, Farrel R. Robinson, and Randall K. Powers

Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195

Binder, Marc D., Farrel R. Robinson, and Randall K. Powers. Distribution of effective synaptic currents in cat triceps surae motoneurons. VI. Contralateral pyramidal tract. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 241-248, 1998. We measured the effective synaptic currents (I_N) produced by stimulating the contralateral pyramidal tract (PT) in triceps surae motoneurons of the cat. This is an oligosynaptic pathway in the cat that generates both excitation and inhibition in hindlimb motoneurons. We also determined the effect of the PT synaptic input on the discharge rate of some of the motoneurons by inducing repetitive firing with long, injected current pulses during which the PT stimulation was repeated. At resting potential, all but one triceps motoneuron received a net depolarizing effective synaptic current from the PT stimulation. The effective synaptic currents (I_N) were much larger in putative type F motoneurons than in putative type S motoneurons [+4.6 ± 2.9 (SD) nA for type F vs. 0.9 ± 2.4 nA for putative type S]. When the values of I_N at the threshold for repetitive firing were estimated, the distribution was markedly altered. More than 60% of the putative type S motoneurons received a net hyperpolarizing effective synaptic current from the pyramidal tract stimulation as did 33% of the putative type F motoneurons. This distribution pattern is very similar to that observed previously for the effective synaptic currents produced by stimulating the contralateral red nucleus. As would be expected from the wide range of I_N values at threshold (4.8 to +8.7 nA), the PT stimulation produced dramatically different effects on the discharge of different triceps motoneurons. The discharge rates of those motoneurons that received depolarizing effective synaptic currents at threshold were accelerated by PT stimulation (+1 to +8 imp/s), whereas the discharge rates of cells that received hyperpolarizing currents were retarded by the PT input (2 to 7 imp/s). The change in firing rates produced by the PT stimulation was generally approximated by the product of the effective synaptic currents and the slopes of the motoneurons' frequency-current relations. Our findings indicate that the contralateral pyramidal tract may provide a powerful source of synaptic drive to some high-threshold motoneurons while concurrently inhibiting low-threshold cells. Thus this input system, like that from the contralateral red nucleus, can potentially alter the gain of the input-output function of the motoneuron pool as well as disrupt the normal hierarchy of recruitment thresholds.

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