03907nas a2200361 4500008004100000022001400041245007800055210006900133260001300202300001400215490000800229520287700237653001203114653001303126653002503139653001003164653002603174653001303200653001303213653000903226653001803235653002403253653000903277653002503286653001603311100001303327700001303340700001303353700002103366700002203387700002403409856011203433 2024 eng d a1469-779300aMotor learning changes the axon initial segment of the spinal motoneuron.0 aMotor learning changes the axon initial segment of the spinal mo c2024 May a2107-21260 v6023 a

We are studying the mechanisms of H-reflex operant conditioning, a simple form of learning. Modelling studies in the literature and our previous data suggested that changes in the axon initial segment (AIS) might contribute. To explore this, we used blinded quantitative histological and immunohistochemical methods to study in adult rats the impact of H-reflex conditioning on the AIS of the spinal motoneuron that produces the reflex. Successful, but not unsuccessful, H-reflex up-conditioning was associated with greater AIS length and distance from soma; greater length correlated with greater H-reflex increase. Modelling studies in the literature suggest that these increases may increase motoneuron excitability, supporting the hypothesis that they may contribute to H-reflex increase. Up-conditioning did not affect AIS ankyrin G (AnkG) immunoreactivity (IR), p-p38 protein kinase IR, or GABAergic terminals. Successful, but not unsuccessful, H-reflex down-conditioning was associated with more GABAergic terminals on the AIS, weaker AnkG-IR, and stronger p-p38-IR. More GABAergic terminals and weaker AnkG-IR correlated with greater H-reflex decrease. These changes might potentially contribute to the positive shift in motoneuron firing threshold underlying H-reflex decrease; they are consistent with modelling suggesting that sodium channel change may be responsible. H-reflex down-conditioning did not affect AIS dimensions. This evidence that AIS plasticity is associated with and might contribute to H-reflex conditioning adds to evidence that motor learning involves both spinal and brain plasticity, and both neuronal and synaptic plasticity. AIS properties of spinal motoneurons are likely to reflect the combined influence of all the motor skills that share these motoneurons. KEY POINTS: Neuronal action potentials normally begin in the axon initial segment (AIS). AIS plasticity affects neuronal excitability in development and disease. Whether it does so in learning is unknown. Operant conditioning of a spinal reflex, a simple learning model, changes the rat spinal motoneuron AIS. Successful, but not unsuccessful, H-reflex up-conditioning is associated with greater AIS length and distance from soma. Successful, but not unsuccessful, down-conditioning is associated with more AIS GABAergic terminals, less ankyrin G, and more p-p38 protein kinase. The associations between AIS plasticity and successful H-reflex conditioning are consistent with those between AIS plasticity and functional changes in development and disease, and with those predicted by modelling studies in the literature. Motor learning changes neurons and synapses in spinal cord and brain. Because spinal motoneurons are the final common pathway for behaviour, their AIS properties probably reflect the combined impact of all the behaviours that use these motoneurons.

10aAnimals10aAnkyrins10aAxon Initial Segment10aAxons10aConditioning, Operant10aH-Reflex10aLearning10aMale10aMotor Neurons10aNeuronal Plasticity10aRats10aRats, Sprague-Dawley10aSpinal Cord1 aWang, Yu1 aChen, Yi1 aChen, Lu1 aHerron, Bruce, J1 aChen, Xiang, Yang1 aWolpaw, Jonathan, R uhttps://neurotechcenter.org/publications/2024/motor-learning-changes-axon-initial-segment-spinal-motoneuron02917nas a2200265 4500008004100000022001400041245009700055210006900152260001200221300001000233490000800243520213200251653002202383653001202405653002102417653001302438653001802451653002102469653000902490653004102499100001902540700002302559700002102582856004802603 2002 eng d a0165-027000aTemporal transformation of multiunit activity improves identification of single motor units.0 aTemporal transformation of multiunit activity improves identific c02/2002 a87-980 v1143 a

This report describes a temporally based method for identifying repetitive firing of motor units. This approach is ideally suited to spike trains with negative serially correlated inter-spike intervals (ISIs). It can also be applied to spike trains in which ISIs exhibit little serial correlation if their coefficient of variation (COV) is sufficiently low. Using a novel application of the Hough transform, this method (i.e. the modified Hough transform (MHT)) maps motor unit action potential (MUAP) firing times into a feature space with ISI and offset (defined as the latency from an arbitrary starting time to the first MUAP in the train) as dimensions. Each MUAP firing time corresponds to a pattern in the feature space that represents all possible MUAP trains with a firing at that time. Trains with stable ISIs produce clusters in the feature space, whereas randomly firing trains do not. The MHT provides a direct estimate of mean firing rate and its variability for the entire data segment, even if several individual MUAPs are obscured by firings from other motor units. Addition of this method to a shape-based classification approach markedly improved rejection of false positives using simulated data and identified spike trains in whole muscle electromyographic recordings from rats. The relative independence of the MHT from the need to correctly classify individual firings permits a global description of stable repetitive firing behavior that is complementary to shape-based approaches to MUAP classification.

10aAction Potentials10aAnimals10aElectromyography10aH-Reflex10aMotor Neurons10aMuscle, Skeletal10aRats10aSignal Processing, Computer-Assisted1 aSchalk, Gerwin1 aCarp, Jonathan, S.1 aWolpaw, Jonathan uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11850043