Longitudinal myelotomy of lumbar spinal cord has little effect on coordinated locomotor activities of bilateral hindlimbs of the chronic cats.

Phase relations between muscle activities of bilateral hindlimbs during walking were investigated in chronic cats whose spinal cord was longitudinally separated into halves in order to investigate if segmental commissural connections are essential for the coordination. EMGs were recorded from bilateral triceps brachii, bilateral vastus lateralis and one tibialis anterior muscles during overground locomotion. The results show that coordination between bilateral hindlimbs is well preserved after the longitudinal myelotomy of the lumbar cord, indicating structures located supra-lumbar cord are essentially important for the coordination.