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Science 19 January 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5810, p. 297
DOI: 10.1126/science.315.5810.297k
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This Week in Science

The basic spinal network mechanisms underlying limb movements are still not fully understood. Investigating spinal cord preparations from adult turtles, Berg et al. (p. 390; see the cover and the Perspective by Kristan) describe how spinal networks operate during motor pattern generation. Balanced increases in synaptic excitation and inhibition operate in spinal motoneurons to produce rhythmic bursts of action potentials that are stochastic in nature. This activity contrasts strongly with the classical notion that antiphasic inhibition and excitation produces rhythmic activity in oscillatory spinal networks.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)