Cell's new discovery: Neurons that control movement

Scientists have known for more than a century that while the command to initiate movement comes from the brain, once the movement begins, the neurons that control it are located in the spinal cord

"We hope our findings will open up new avenues for understanding how complex behaviors like locomotion arise and give us new insights into the mechanisms and biology that govern this fundamental behavior

VSCTs were discovered in the 1940s, but researchers have long believed that their primary function is to transmit information about neuronal activity from the spinal cord to the cerebellum

"These findings were a huge surprise," Mentis said

This study employed several novel experimental approaches

Using the functioning of the intact spinal cord of a newborn mouse in a petri dish, the researchers showed that vsct is activated by light-induced motor behavior

Mentis acknowledges that there are limitations to doing this type of research in mice, including that humans are bipeds and mice are quadrupeds; therefore, their movements can be regulated in a different way

In their next steps, the team plans to identify and precisely map the neural circuits that vscts form with motor neurons and other spinal cord neurons

article title

Control of mammalian locomotion by ventral spinocerebellar tract neurons