Various transmitter systems, including the serotoninergic, influence the locomotor behavior of animals. Studies have shown that the spinal cord, deprived of supraspinal control, has mechanisms able to induce locomotor activity in the hindlimbs and that the afferent system can trigger these mechanisms. Behavioral experiments on rats with complete transection of the spinal cord showed that pharmacological suppression of the serotoninergic system leads to suppression of motor activity associated with activation of support reactions (locomotor training). Histological studies did not identify any effect of activating support reactions on neuron survival or the distribution of synaptic contacts in spinal cord segments L2–L4. However, suppression of the serotoninergic system has been shown to lead to changes in cells in laminae 1–3 of the dorsal horns and in Rexed lamina 7, along with redistribution of synaptic contacts in Rexed laminae 1–4 in the dorsal horns of the spinal cord.
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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 98, No. 12, pp. 1595–1603, December, 2012.
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Gerasimenko, Y.P., Moshonkina, T.R., Pavlova, N.V. et al. Morphofunctional Studies of the Involvement of the Serotoninergic System in the Control of Postural and Locomotor Functions. Neurosci Behav Physi 44, 967–972 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-014-0011-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-014-0011-6