Electrophysiological signatures reveal spinal learning mechanisms for a lasting sensorimotor adaptation

Abstract

Neurocircuits within the spinal cord are essential for movement automaticity. However, spinal mechanisms that underlie lasting sensorimotor adjustments remain unclear. Here, we establish a quantitative kinematic framework to characterize a conditioning behavior in which spinal circuits without brain input learn to adapt motor output upon multimodal sensory integration, undergo extinction, and reinforcement of learned behavior with repetitive training. In-vivo Neuropixel spinal cord recordings from awake behaving mice reveal learning phase-tuned single unit activities. In addition, optically identified unit recordings and a loss-of-function experiment demonstrate an essential function of a class of spinal inhibitory interneurons in this learning paradigm. Together, these data reveal neuronal underpinnings that shape lasting sensorimotor adaptation where stable sensory dissemination regulates learning and the existence of neuronal assembly that retains learned behavior.