Tool Kit

My research deploys a complement of advanced physiological tools in rodents to study the neural control of movement. These include:

Isolated Preparations of the Rodent Nervous System

in vitro preparations of the newborn mouse spinal cord and brainstem afford interrogation of locomotor and respiratory circuits using a variety of tools to record and manipulate network function. On the left is an isolated lumbar spinal cord obtained from a newborn mouse, where patterns of activity consistent with walking can be elicited. On the right is an isolated brainstem and spinal cord where respiratory related output can be measured. In both, locomotor or respiratory network output can measured using extracellular electrophysiological recordings obtained using suction electrodes attached to the ventral nerve roots. These preparations also afford direct access to techniques to measure the activity of individual neurons using patch clamp electrophysiology or calcium imaging.

Spinal cord slice preparations afford the interrogation of underlying mechanisms and cellular properties of individual neurons that are important for the control of movement. Depicted above is a whole cell patch clamp recording obtained from a mouse lumbar spinal motoneuron.

The working heart-brainstem-spinal cord preparation affords the interrogation of the neural circuits that control breathing in adult rodents. This preparation is supported with a ‘pressure-clamped’ perfusate delivered through the vasculature, with breathing activity monitored using extracellular section electrodes from key nerves (eg. phrenic nerve) or electromyography from muscles.