Role of spinal sensorimotor circuits in triphasic muscle command: a simulation approach using goal exploration process

TL;DR

This study uses simulations to show that spinal circuits alone can generate triphasic muscle commands during elbow movements, without needing brain input.

Contribution

Demonstrates for the first time that spinal sensorimotor circuits can autonomously produce triphasic muscle commands.

Findings

Spinal circuits can generate triphasic commands without brain involvement.

SET and GO step commands enabled a wide range of functional behaviors.

Triphasic commands were consistently produced across different movement parameters.

Abstract

During rapid voluntary elbow movement on horizontal plane, a stereotyped triphasic pattern is typically observed in the electromyograms (EMGs) of antagonistic muscles acting at this joint. To explain the origin of such triphasic commands, two types of theories have been proposed. Peripheral theories consider that triphasic commands result from sensorimotor spinal networks, either through a combination of reflexes or through a spinal central pattern generator. Central theories consider that the triphasic command is elaborated in the brain. Although both theories were partially supported by physiological data, there is still no consensus about how exactly triphasic commands are elaborated. Moreover, capacities of simple spinal sensorimotor circuits to elaborate triphasic commands on their own have not been tested yet. In order to test this, we modelled arm musculoskeletal system operating in the absence of gravity, muscle activation dynamics, proprioceptive spindle and Golgi afferent activities and spinal sensorimotor circuits. Step commands were designed to modify the activity of spinal neurons and the strength of their synapses, either to prepare (SET) the network before movement onset, or to launch the movement (GO). Since these step commands do not contain any dynamics, changes in muscle activities responsible for arm movement rest entirely upon interactions between the spinal network and the musculoskeletal system. Critically, we selected step commands using a Goal Exploration Process inspired from baby babbling during development. In this task, the Goal Exploration Process proved very efficient at discovering step commands that enabled spinal circuits to handle a broad spectrum of functional behaviors, displayed in a behavioral space characterized by movement amplitude and maximal speed. All over the behavioral space, specific SET and GO commands elicited natural triphasic commands, thereby substantiating the inherent capacity of the spinal network in generating them.

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