Facilitation from contralateral primary afferents of interneuronal transmission in the Ia inhibitory pathway to motoneurones.

The action of volleys in contralateral primary afferents on transmission in the Ia inhibitory pathways to motoneurones was investigated with intracellular recording from motoneurones. Ia IPSPs in flexor as well as most extensor motoneurones were regularly facilitated by volleys in contralateral high threshold muscle, cutaneous and joint afferents in spinal cats under chloralose anaesthesia. In decerebrate cats with a low pontine lesion transmission in Ia inhibitory pathways was not facilitated but rather depressed by volleys in these afferents. The recurrent effects from motor axon collaterals were investigated on inhibitory transmission from different contralateral afferents to motoneurones. Previous investigations have shown that the interneurones mediating the reciprocal Ia inhibition receive recurrent inhibition via motor axon collaterals and Renshaw cells. Now a strong positive correlation was revealed between recurrent depression of IPSPs evoked from different contralateral afferents and facilitation of Ia IPSPs by the same afferent volleys. These results suggest that the recurrent depression of IPSPs from different contralateral primary afferents depends on their excitatory convergence onto the Ia inhibitory interneurones, which then partly mediate the IPSP evoked in the motoneurone from these afferents.