Spinal neuronal activation during locomotor-like activity enabled by epidural stimulation and 5-hydroxytryptamine agonists in spinal rats

The neural networks that generate stepping in complete spinal adult rats remain poorly defined. To address this problem we used c-fos (an activity-dependent marker) to identify active interneurons and motoneurons in the lumbar spinal cord of adult spinal rats during a 30-minute bout of bipedal stepping. Spinal rats were either step trained (30 min/day, 3 days/week for 7.5 weeks) or not step-trained. Stepping was enabled by epidural stimulation and the administration of the serotonergic agonists quipazine and 8-OHDPAT. A third group of spinal rats served as untreated (no stimulation, drugs, or stepping) controls. The number of activated cholinergic central canal cluster cells and partition neurons was higher in both step-trained and non-trained than untreated rats, and higher in non-trained than step-trained rats. The latter finding suggests that daily treatment with epidural stimulation plus serotonergic agonist treatment without step training enhanced the excitability of a broader cholinergic interneuronal population than step training. The number of activated interneurons in laminae II-VI of lumbar cross sections was higher in both step-trained and non-trained than untreated rats, and highest in step-trained rats. This finding suggests that this population of interneurons was responsive to epidural stimulation plus serotonergic treatment and that load-bearing induced when stepping had an additive effect. The number of activated motoneurons of all size categories was higher in the step-trained than the other two groups, reflecting a strong effect of loading on motoneuron recruitment. In general, these results indicate that the spinal networks for locomotion are similar with and without brain input.