With a study of the network between nerve and muscle cells in turtles, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have gained new insight into the way in which movements are generated and maintained.
With a study of the network between nerve and muscle cells in turtles, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have gained new insight into the way in which movements are generated and maintained. In the long term, the new knowledge may have an impact on the treatment of, for example, ALS and spinal cord injuries.
For most people, it is easy to put one leg in front of the other and keep walking. The ability to do it is second nature or, so to speak, in our bones. Quite literally.
‘Most movements are actually generated in the spinal cord. Naturally, there is a conversation with high-ranking parts of the nervous system, such as the cerebrum, but there are also reflexes that simply stem from the back’, says Associate Professor and Head of Research Rune W. Berg from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen.
He and his research group are behind a study of the network between nerve and muscle cells which has been published in the renowned scientific journal Nature Communications, and which provides completely new insight into the ways in which movements are generated and maintained.
Read more at University of Copenhagen the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Image: This is a cross-section of spinal neurons in a turtle. (Credit: Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen)
