Forelimb force direction and magnitude independently controlled by spinal modules in the macaque.

ABSTRACT: Modular organization of the spinal motor system is thought to reduce the cognitive complexity of simultaneously controlling the large number of muscles and joints in the human body. Although modular organization has been confirmed in the hindlimb control system of several animal species, it has yet to be established in the forelimb motor system or in primates. Expanding upon experiments originally performed in the frog lumbar spinal cord, we examined whether costimulation of two sites in the macaque monkey cervical spinal cord results in motor activity that is a simple linear sum of the responses evoked by stimulating each site individually. Similar to previous observations in the frog and rodent hindlimb, our analysis revealed that in most cases (77% of all pairs) the directions of the fo

SUBMITTER: Yaron A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7959559 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature