Non-patterned electrical stimulation of the posterior structures of the lumbar spinal cord in subjects with complete, long-standing spinal cord injury, can induce patterned, locomotor-like activity. We show that epidural spinal cord stimulation can elicit step-like EMG activity and locomotor synergies in paraplegic subjects. An electrical train of stimuli applied over the second lumbar segment ...

We recorded action potential activity from the isolated brain of the nudibranch seaslug Tritonia diomedea during fictive swimming. Candidate central pattern generator (CPG) interneurons were identified by their bursting patterns and positions in the brain. Previously identifed populations of interneurons were imaged, including the dorsal swim interneurons (DSI), C2, and ventral swim interneuron...

Intracellular recordings from the sole proprioceptor (the oval organ) in the crab ventilatory system show that the nonspiking afferent fibers from this organ receive a cyclic hyperpolarizing inhibition in phase with the ventilatory motor pattern. Although depolarizing and hyperpolarizing current pulses injected into a single afferent will reset the ventilatory motor pattern, the inhibitory inpu...

Synapses show short-term activity-dependent dynamics that alter the strength of neuronal interactions. This synaptic plasticity can be tuned by neuromodulation as a form of metaplasticity. We examined neuromodulator-induced metaplasticity at a graded chemical synapse in a model central pattern generator (CPG), the pyloric network of the spiny lobster stomatogastric ganglion. Dopamine, serotonin...

This article provides a perspective on major innovations over the past century in research on the spinal cord and, specifically, on specialized spinal circuits involved in the control of rhythmic locomotor pattern generation and modulation. Pioneers such as Charles Sherrington and Thomas Graham Brown have conducted experiments in the early twentieth century that changed our views of the neural ...

Trajectory generation for quadruped robots is a challenging task since they are underactuated systems which must balance using sensory feedback and satisfy ground contact constraints. There is a substantial body of evidence that many animals use central pattern generators (CPGs) for generating joint trajectories and regulation through sensory feedback. However, CPG models formulated in the join...

BACKGROUND Medicinal leeches (Hirudo spp.) are simultaneous hermaphrodites. Mating occurs after a stereotyped twisting and oral exploration that result in the alignment of the male and/or female gonopores of one leech with the complementary gonopores of a partner. The neural basis of this behavior is presently unknown and currently impossible to study directly because electrophysiological recor...

In this paper we present a new, adaptive model of the Central Pattern Generator (CPG) [1] based on Spiking Neural Networks (SNN) [2]. The model has the ability to learn the desired rhythmic patterns from demonstration. Central Pattern Generators (CPG) play the principle role in such processes as locomotion, breathing or heart-beating of animals. For this reason they are of great interest for sc...

OBJECTIVES This article explains the research on a unique spinal wave visibly observed in association with network spinal analysis care. Since 1997, the network wave has been studied using surface electromyography (sEMG), characterized mathematically, and determined to be a unique and repeatable phenomenon. METHODS The authors provide a narrative review of the research and a context for the n...

In crayfish, the movement of each swimmeret is monitored by a pair of nonspiking stretch receptors (NSR) with central somata and dendrites that are embedded in an elastic strand at the base of the appendage. I provide evidence that the neuropile segments of these primary sensory neurones receive synaptic input from the hemiganglionic central pattern generator for the swimmeret. In nonbursting i...