1. Locomotor activity is variable and uncoordinated in Nes-Cre; Wt1fl/fl pups.
Locomotor activity is variable and uncoordinated in Nes-Cre; Wt1fl/fl pups. (A) Representative traces showing locomotor-like activity during fictive locomotion from left and right lumbar (L) 2 and right L5 ventral roots from control (Nes-Cre;Wt1+/+) and Wt1 conditional knockout (Nes-Cre;Wt1fl/fl) mice. Rhythmic activity was induced by application of NMDA, serotonin, and dopamine. Raw traces in black; rectified, low-pass filtered signal of lL2 trace in blue; activity burst shown in green. Spinal cord schematic depicts the attached suction electrodes to the right (r) and left (l) L2 and rL5 ventral roots. Scale bar: 5 s. (B) Phase analysis and associated coherence power spectra of left/right (L2/L2) and flexor/extensor (L2/L5) recordings. Regions of persistent coherence emerge for control mice at 0.30 Hz, whereas spinal cords from Nes-Cre;Wt1fl/fl mice show an intermittent coherence region at 0.18 Hz. Color-graded scale indicates normalized coherence. Scale bar: 125 s. (C) Locomotor patterns, analyzed from 20 consecutive bursts, reveal impaired and variable left/right and flexor/extensor alternation in Nes-Cre;Wt1fl/fl mice (black dots). Normal left/right and flexor/extensor alternation is maintained in control (white dots) mice. Each dot represents one cord; arrows represent the mean phase. The length of the vector is a measure of the statistical significance of the preferred phase; dashed grey line indicates regions of significance and high significance at 0.5 and 0.8, respectively (Rayleigh test and Watson's U2 test). n = 5 pups (control); n = 7 pups (Nes-Cre;Wt1fl/fl). (D)Nes-Cre;Wt1fl/fl mice have a slower locomotor frequency than control mice. Data are shown as mean ± SD. n = 5 pups (control); n = 7 pups (Nes-Cre;Wt1fl/fl). Significance was tested using two-tailed Mann–Whitney U test. (E, F) The slower locomotor frequency in Nes-Cre;Wt1fl/fl mice is mirrored by an increased cycle period, and burst and interburst duration in both L2 (E) and L5 (F) roots. Data are shown as mean ± SD. n = 5 pups (control); n = 7 pups (Nes-Cre;Wt1fl/fl). Significance was tested using two-tailed Mann–Whitney U test. Significance level: **P < 0.01, ***P <
Danny Schnerwitzki et al. LSA 2018;1:e
© 2018 Schnerwitzki et al.