Topic: synaptic contacts

Earlier evidence shows that motoneuron collaterals can form synaptic contacts with other motoneurons in spinal cord. We have recently shown that late-firing motoneurons (putative fast) receive 10-fold stronger recurrent excitation than their early-firing (putative slow) counterparts. This finding raises the question of whether connections between motoneurons are dominantly between fast motoneurons or whether slow motoneurons preferentially connect to fast ones. We performed paired recordings from motoneurons labelled from either gastrocnemius (ankle extensor) or tibialis anterior (ankle flexor

Stathmin-2 (STMN2) is a microtubule-associated protein that promotes microtubule instability and is targeted to vesicles. It is well established that STMN2 is upregulated after injury, however, the biological relevance and the mechanisms activated by a transient increase of STMN2 remain unknown. Using Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles as animal model we observed that STMN2 levels peaked in a population of motoneurons three days after the transection of the spinal cord, before tadpoles recovered their swimming capacity within 5 to 7 days. To investigate the possible role of STMN2 in the process of re