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Locomotor Pattern in the Adult Zebrafish Spinal Cord In Vitro

¹Department of Neuroscience, Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; ²School of Life Sciences, Södertörns Högskola; ³Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Novum, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; and ⁴Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

Submitted 12 July 2007; accepted in final form 23 October 2007

The zebrafish is an attractive model system for studying the function of the spinal locomotor network by combining electrophysiological, imaging, and genetic approaches. Thus far, most studies have been focusing on embryonic and larval stages. In this study we have developed an in vitro preparation of the isolated spinal cord from adult zebrafish in which locomotor activity can be induced while the activity of single neurons can be monitored using whole cell recording techniques. Application of NMDA elicited rhythmic locomotor activity that was monitored by recording from muscles or ventral roots in semi-intact or isolated spinal cord preparations, respectively. This rhythmic activity displayed a left–right alternation and a rostrocaudal delay. Blockade of glycinergic synaptic transmission by strychnine switched the alternating activity into synchronous bursting in the left and right sides as well as along the rostrocaudal axis. Whole cell recordings from motoneurons showed that they receive phasic synaptic inputs that were correlated with the locomotor activity recorded in ventral roots. This newly developed in vitro preparation of the adult zebrafish spinal cord will allow examination of the organization of the spinal locomotor network in an adult system to complement studies in zebrafish larvae and new born rodents.

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