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Evolution of neuronal systems of suprasegmental motor control

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Abstract

The study of supraspinal systems of motor control in a series of vertebrates by electroanatomical methods shows that certain key features of reticulo-motoneuronal projection persist throughout the scale of evolution from Cyclostomata to primates. There is a particularly marked similarity between the monosynaptic reticulo-motoneuronal EPSPs in primitive animals and in the advanced quadrupeds: amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. Certain general principles governing the maturation of derivatives of the reticulo-spinal system, namely the vestibulo-spinal and rubro-spinal projections, can be discussed. The most marked changes occurred in the development of the mammalian cortico-spinal system. The properties of the conducting system and synaptic connections with the spinal motoneurons differ considerably in the series rodents—carnivores—primates. In this survey the similarities and differences between the pyramidal and nonpyramidal monosynaptic projections to motoneurons in primates and the role of brain-stem structures in the mechanism of cortico-extrapyramidal control are discussed.

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  1. A. I. Shapovalov
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I. M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Leningrad. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 453–470, September–October, 1972.

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Shapovalov, A.I. Evolution of neuronal systems of suprasegmental motor control. Neurophysiology 4, 346–359 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01063005

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