Direct excitatory interactions between spinal motoneurones of the cat

Abstract

1. Ninety-seven spinal motoneurones were identified by their antidromic invasion following stimulation of the muscle nerve and submitted to a series of four tests to reveal a possible direct excitation between motoneurones. 2. Threshold differentiation, refractoriness, hyperpolarization and collision revealed antidromically induced depolarizations in fourteen of the ninety-seven tested motoneurones. 3. The parameters of the antidromically induced depolarizations indicate a short latency, a low amplitude and independence with regard to the membrane polarization. 4. It is concluded that the antidromically induced depolarizations reached the impaled motoneurone via a route other than its own axon. 5. The mechanism may involve either electrotonic interactions between neighbouring motoneurones or excitatory recurrent collaterals between synergist motoneurones.