Electromyographic activity patterns of ankle flexor and extensor muscles during spontaneous and L-DOPA-induced locomotion in freely moving neonatal rats.

In rats, hindlimb postural and locomotor functions mature during the first 3 postnatal weeks. Previous evidence indicates that maturation of descending monoaminergic pathways is important for the postnatal emergence of locomotion with adequate antigravity postural support. Here we have studied the effect of the monoamine precursor L-DOPA on locomotor activity in freely moving postnatal rats (7-9 days old) using electromyographic recordings from ankle extensor (soleus) and flexor (tibialis anterior or extensor digitorum longus) muscles. Before pharmacological treatment, both muscles were usually silent at rest, and during spontaneous movements there was a high degree of coactivation between the two antagonists. This was due to a longer electromyographic (EMG) burst duration in flexors, which partly overlapped with the extensor burst. L-DOPA administration (150 mg/kg) resulted in a marked increase in postural tonic EMG activity in extensors which appeared gradually within 10 min after injection and was sufficient for the pups to maintain a standing posture with the pelvis raised above ground. Thereafter, episodes of locomotion characterized by rhythmic reciprocal bursts of EMG activity in flexor and extensor muscles were seen. The L-DOPA-induced rhythmic EMG pattern was also seen in postnatal rats subjected to a midthoracic spinal cord transection, indicating that the effect of L-DOPA on motor coordination is exerted primarily at the level of the spinal pattern generator. Analysis of EMG burst characteristics showed that the pattern of L-DOPA-induced locomotion in both intact and spinalized postnatal rats resembled in some respects that observed in adults during spontaneous locomotion. The appearance of reciprocal activation during L-DOPA-induced locomotion in neonates was primarily due to a shortening of the EMG burst duration in flexors, which reduced the degree of antagonist coactivation. These results show that the spinal cord has the potential to produce coordinated overground locomotion several days before such movements are normally expressed in the freely moving animal.