Fetal Movement Essential for Neuron Development in Rats

Summary: Spontaneous limb and body movements of newborn rats serve to synchronize spinal neurons, researchers report.

Source: Kazan Federal University.

The Development Neurobiology Lab, managed jointly by Kazan University and INSERM, has found that spontaneous limb and body movements of newborn rats serve to synchronize spinal neurons.

A newborn rat’s brain development stage is close to that of a human embryo in the second half of pregnancy, so this discovery allows to hypothesize that the same movement patterns can help neuron development in humans. The research was published in Nature Communications on October 7th.

This work has been going on for four years under the helm of Rustem Khazipov and his overseas colleagues, including Ana Rita Lourenco Inacio (Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology). The KFU Neurobiology Lab was established to study developing brain thanks to a megagrant from the Russian government.

Physiological movement has been studied by observing both the brain and the spinal cord. Thus new information has been obtained about the spinal cord activation in rats.

Image shows a diagram a rat paw.
Mechanical stimulus (stim)-evoked MUA frequency represented as colour-coded dot overlaid on the corresponding stimulation point in a aged-matched hindlimb photograph (response map, single, anesthetized animal). NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to the researchers/Nature Communications.

Azat Nasretdinov, Junior Research Associate at the Neurobiology Lab and a co-author of the latest paper, explains, “We had to find out how spinal neurons communicate during spontaneous limb movements. We simultaneously registered hind limb movements and electric activity in the spinal cord. Our main takeaway is that the activation of motor and sensor zones of the spinal cord resulting from short twitches and long complex movements is carried out through sensory feedback (activities of the movement zones of the spinal cord lead to limb movements and thus to sensor zone activation), so we think these spontaneous movements are the main instrument of sensorimotor synchronization. One of the proofs is that spinal cord activity diminished when sensory signals from the limbs were disconnected. The final confirmation came during in vitro experiments on spinal cords – sensory and motor zones both demonstrated bursts of activity, but with little correlation because isolated spinal cord preparations had no anatomical feedback”.

About this neuroscience research article

Source: Yury Nurmeev – Kazan Federal University
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to the researchers/Nature Communications.
Original Research: Full open access research for “Sensory feedback synchronizes motor and sensory neuronal networks in the neonatal rat spinal cord” by Ana R. Inácio, Azat Nasretdinov, Julia Lebedeva & Roustem Khazipov in Nature Communications. Published online October 7 2016 doi:10.1038/ncomms13060

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Kazan Federal University. “Fetal Movement Essential for Neuron Development in Rats.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 14 November 2016.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/neuron-development-fetal-movement-5508/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Kazan Federal University. (2016, November 14). Fetal Movement Essential for Neuron Development in Rats. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved November 14, 2016 from https://neurosciencenews.com/neuron-development-fetal-movement-5508/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Kazan Federal University. “Fetal Movement Essential for Neuron Development in Rats.” https://neurosciencenews.com/neuron-development-fetal-movement-5508/ (accessed November 14, 2016).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Sensory feedback synchronizes motor and sensory neuronal networks in the neonatal rat spinal cord

Early stages of sensorimotor system development in mammals are characterized by the occurrence of spontaneous movements. Whether and how these movements support correlated activity in developing sensorimotor spinal cord circuits remains unknown. Here we show highly correlated activity in sensory and motor zones in the spinal cord of neonatal rats in vivo. Both during twitches and complex movements, movement-generating bursts in motor zones are followed by bursts in sensory zones. Deafferentation does not affect activity in motor zones and movements, but profoundly suppresses activity bursts in sensory laminae and results in sensorimotor uncoupling, implying a primary role of sensory feedback in sensorimotor synchronization. This is further supported by largely dissociated activity in sensory and motor zones observed in the isolated spinal cord in vitro. Thus, sensory feedback resulting from spontaneous movements is instrumental for coordination of activity in developing sensorimotor spinal cord circuits.

“Sensory feedback synchronizes motor and sensory neuronal networks in the neonatal rat spinal cord” by Ana R. Inácio, Azat Nasretdinov, Julia Lebedeva & Roustem Khazipov in Nature Communications. Published online October 7 2016 doi:10.1038/ncomms13060

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