Vestibulo-reticular projections in adult lamprey: their role in locomotion

This study describes the anatomical projections from vestibular secondary neurons to reticulospinal neurons in the adult lamprey and the modulation of vestibular inputs during fictive locomotion. Anatomical tracers were applied in the posterior (PRRN) and middle rhombencephalic reticular nuclei as well as to the proximal stumps of cut vestibular nerve branches to identify the neurons projecting to the reticular nuclei that were in close proximity with vestibular primary afferents. Labeled neurons were found in the intermediate (ION) and posterior (PON) octavomotor nuclei, and were more numerous on the side of the injection (around 56-87 and 101-107 for the ION and the PON, respectively). Morphologies varied but cells were mostly round or oval. Axonal projections from the PON formed a dense bundle, whereas those from the ION were less densely packed. Based on their morphology and the distribution of their projections, most vestibulo-reticular neurons were presumed to be vestibulospinal cells. Reticulospinal cells from the PRRN were recorded intracellularly in the in vitro brainstem-spinal cord preparation and large excitatory post-synaptic potentials (EPSPs) were evoked following stimulation of the ipsilateral anterior and the contralateral posterior branches of the vestibular nerves, whereas inhibitory post-synaptic potentials (IPSPs) or smaller EPSPs were elicited by stimulation of the ipsilateral posterior or of the contralateral anterior branches. During fictive locomotion, both the excitatory and the inhibitory responses displayed phasic changes in amplitude such that the amplitude of the EPSPs was minimal when the spinal cord activity switched from the ipsilateral to the contralateral side of the recorded reticulospinal cell. The IPSPs were then of maximal amplitude. We propose that this modulation could serve to reduce the influence of vestibular inputs in response to head movements during locomotion.