A dorsal spinal neural network in cat. I. Responses to single impulses in single type I cutaneous input fibers.

1. We have studied some properties of a sacral dorsal spinal gray matter network. the lamina 4:type 1 afferent fiber network (L4:T1 network) in 24 adult cats that were anesthetized with urethan and the spinal cord transected at the thoracolumbar junction. 2. The network in the first sacral segment is composed of a subgroup of lamina 4 cells as principal neurons that are connected to type 1 afferent fibers emerging from the skin, the manipulable input channels. Other primary afferent fibers and axons of central cells of other segments may also be input elements. Cells of the substantia gelatinosa (SG) and of the marginal layer constitute the intrinsic neurons. We monitored the output of the network by unit recording of the lamina 4 cell's impulse activity. 3. We activated the network by single impulses delivered via single type 1 afferent fibers. We stimulated fibers individually by focused electrical stimulation and monitored the selectivity of the stimulus by a computer-averaging procedure. The basic stimulus paradigm (each stimulus trial) consisted of 100 single impulses delivered 1 impulse/3 s. For nine networks, each of the accessible type 1 fibers was used as an input channel. 4. The typical pattern of response to the 100 impulses was composed of: a) an early discharge lasting for 5 ms after the input impulse invades the central arbor of the type 1 fiber, b) a late discharge of variable duration terminated by c) a postresponse reduction in ongoing discharge rate. Early-only and late-only discharges were occasionally observed. We conclude that the response pattern reflects the specific neuronal and synaptic configuration that is engaged by each input channel. 5. Across input channels, the early discharge was characterized by: a) a bimodal distribution of low- and high-probability responses, reflecting two predominating groups of type 1 input channels, one believed to be weakly coupled and the other strongly coupled to the principal neuron; b) relatively little multiple discharge; c) modal response during the first 2 ms of the discharge; d) response produced via a monosynaptic connection of the type 1 fiber with the lamina 4 neuron and average synaptic delay of 0.53 +/- 0.01 ms (mean +/- SE, n = 100); e) in general, a stable response throughout the 5-min stimulus trial, although an occasional habituating response was noted. 6. The late discharge was characterized by: a) a multiple discharge and a wide response jitter; b) mean duration approximately 29 ms; c) in general, high-probability response; d) a tendency for the response to wane during the course of the stimulus trial. 7. We observed no relationship between the magnitude of the early or late response and the level of ongoing discharge when considered across input channels. However, for a given input channel over time, the output response was often highly correlated with the level of ongoing discharge. The effect was best described by a log-log relationship...