Spinal cord articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article |

    Speed and gait selection in mice are controlled by glutamatergic excitatory neurons in the cuneiform nucleus and the pedunculopontine nucleus, which act in conjunction to select context-dependent locomotor behaviours.

    • V. Caggiano
    • , R. Leiras
    •  & O. Kiehn

  • Letter |

    WebMotor neurons in zebrafish are shown to be more than simply output neurons, since they are able to influence, through gap junctions, the strength of the input they receive from V2a interneurons and, thereby, the frequency and duration of locomotor activity.

    • Jianren Song
    • , Konstantinos Ampatzis
    •  & Abdeljabbar El Manira

  • Article |

    A population of spinal interneurons that form axo–axonic connections with the terminals of proprioceptive afferents are shown to mediate presynaptic inhibition; their ablation elicits harmonic oscillations during goal-directed forelimb movements, which can be modelled as the consequence of an increase in sensory feedback gain.

    • Andrew J. P. Fink
    • , Katherine R. Croce
    •  & Eiman Azim

  • Article |

    Cervical propriospinal neurons (PNs) form a genetically accessible subclass of V2a interneurons that convey both premotor output and precerebellar copy signals; their ablation in mice impairs reaching movements selectively, and activation of their internal copy projection recruits a rapid cerebellar feedback loop that modulates forelimb movement.

    • Eiman Azim
    • , Juan Jiang
    •  & Thomas M. Jessell

  • Article |

    The authors use a combination of viral tracing and genetics to characterize the diversity of neurons projecting from mouse brainstem to motor neurons that control limb movements; in particular they discover that the medullary reticular formation ventral part (MdV) is functionally specialized for skilled forelimb motor control.

    • Maria Soledad Esposito
    • , Paolo Capelli
    •  & Silvia Arber

  • Outlook |

    An injury to the spine — the long bony assemblage that supports the upper body and the spinal cord that carries nerve signals — can be grim and costly. By Bill Cannon.

    • Bill Cannon

  • Outlook |

    Drugs to protect vulnerable neurons and encourage neural circuits to reform could one day improve the outlook for patients with acute spinal cord trauma.

    • Megan Cully

  • Outlook |

    There are easy ways to reduce the odds of suffering a life-changing injury, says Sara Klaas.

    • Sara J. Klaas

  • Outlook |

    Better data and technology could prevent many devastating injuries, says Peter Cripton.

    • Peter A. Cripton

  • Outlook |

    Mechanical suits known as exoskeletons can help people with spinal cord injuries stand up and walk away from their wheelchairs — but not without training.

    • Peter Gwynne

  • Outlook |

    The first stem-cell therapies for spinal cord injuries are already being tested in clinical studies, but scientific and political uncertainty remain.

    • Cassandra Willyard

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