An attempt to produce automatism in a spinal center

Summary Experiments were conducted on frog spinal cord center with the creation of conditions for its activity analogous to those for the frog respiratory center activity. For this purpose one of the nerves was stimulated for a prolonged period, thus creating a background lengthy optimal excitation in the spinal cord nervous centers: then the synergetic nerve was subjected to periodical brief stimulation which led to a transitory depression of the initial excitation. In another series of experiments an attempt was made at inhibition of the initial central excitation from the same contralateral nerve. The main principles, governing conditions of activity of some automatically working centers (particularly of the frog respiratory center), were disclosed, permitting it to be modelled in other nonautomatic centers.(Presented by Active Member AMN SSSR A. V. Lebedinskii) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 54, No. 10, pp. 13–17, October, 1962.