Advisor: Ronald Harris-Warrick Start Date:
Fall 2004
My project involves recording from identified commisural interneurons in the developing spinal cord in mice. As mice age from birth to young adulthood, it is thought that the central pattern generator responsible for the rhythmic alternation involved in locomotion is reorganized or modified in some way. Commisural interneurons, or interneurons whose axons cross the midline of the spinal cord, play an important role in this central pattern generator. By patch-clamp recording from these neurons at different stages of development, it is hoped that we can shed some light on the dynamics of this network. It is hoped that by studying the processes involved in hindlimb locomotion in mice, we can apply the knowledge gained to humans who have defecits walking due to traumatic injury or other spinal cord ailments.
