Critical points in the forelimb fictive locomotor cycle and motor coordination: effects of phasic retractions and protractions of the shoulder in the cat

This study investigates the responses to phasic shoulder retractions or protractions given at different times in the fictive locomotor cycle of the forelimbs of decerebrate cats. Generally, the responses in flexor and extensor muscles acting at the shoulder or elbow were bilaterally coordinated according to a negative feedback scheme. Perturbations in the direction of the movements that would have taken place if the animal had not been paralyzed tended to shorten the duration of the burst of activity of the muscles active during that phase and vice versa in the opposite phase. Changes in response patterns took place around critical points corresponding to the critical points B-D described in the companion paper using tonic perturbations of the limb. Past point C, at 58% of the ipsilateral extensor burst, protractions no longer prolonged the burst and no longer delayed onset of the contralateral extensor. At point B, occurring at 41% of the contralateral extensor burst, ipsilateral protractions maximally shortened the ipsilateral flexor phase, advancing ipsilateral extensor onset (point D) to point C of the contralateral extensor burst. During a critical period from the end of the ipsilateral flexor (point D) until the contralateral flexor onset, retractions elicited two alternative responses. Either the contralateral extensor activity was abolished and the contralateral flexor turned on, or it persisted for another cycle. We argue that the critical points found here correspond to critical biomechanical events in real locomotion and may underlie a phase-dependent motor coordination.