Changes in the distribution of synaptic potentials from bulbospinal neurones following axotomy in cat thoracic spinal cord.

1. Plasticity in functional connections of expiratory bulbospinal neurones was investigated by measurement of terminal potentials (TPs) and focal synaptic potentials (FSPs), recorded with spike-triggered averaging in the thoracic spinal cord of anaesthetized, paralysed cats. These measurements were made in normal cats and in those which had previously been subjected to spinal cord lesions that transected the axons of the bulbospinal neurones in the segment below that under investigation, either about 2 weeks or about 16 weeks previously. 2. In both groups of operated animals bulbospinal neurones with firing properties and conduction velocities similar to normal were present. The extracellular recordings that were averaged to reveal TPs and FSPs were made on two standard grids, each consisting of eight sites spaced 0.25 mm apart on two electrode tracks. One grid was positioned at a rostral and one at a caudal location within one segment (T7-T9). 3. Tn the normal animals TPs and FSPs were larger and/or more common at rostral sites than at caudal sites, by a factor of about 1.7. In both 2 week and 16 week animals, TPs and FSPs were observed, both showing normal tine courses and latencies. At rostral sites in 2 week and 16 week animals the amplitudes and/or the frequency of occurrence of TPs and FSPs were similar to normal, as was the case fir caudal sites in the 2 week animals. However, at caudal sites in the 16 week animals the FSPs were mole common and/or significantly larger than normal, with the increase particularly marked on the lateral track, being equivalent to a factor of about 2. A corresponding increase in the amplitude and/or frequency of occurrence of TPs at caudal lateral sites was also seen, but was not significant. 4. The results are interpreted as evidence for short-range sprouting of the bulbospinal axons and the formation by them of new connections in the caudal parts of the segments concerned.