New role for motor neurons discovered
[PRESS RELEASE, 13 JAN. 2016] A new study presented in the journal Nature could change the view of the role of motor neurons. Motor neurons, which extend from the spinal cord to muscles and other organs, have always been considered passive recipients of signals from interneuronal circuits. Now, however, researchers from Sweden´s Karolinska Institutet have demonstrated a new, direct signalling pathway through which motor neurons influence the locomotor circuits that generate rhythmic movements.Locomotion is essential to all animals and is based on a carefully balanced interaction between the