The role of inhibition in the control of locomotion

脊髓含有神经回路，可以在从原始脊椎动物到人类的各种物种中产生基本的运动模式。虽然某些脊椎动物如七鳃鳗和非洲爪哇的功能结构是众所周知的，但对哺乳动物CPG的了解要少得多。开始清楚的是，每个半节内相互兴奋的中间神经元可能形成核心或单位振荡器，该振荡器与位于不同节段或另一半节段的同侧振荡器相互连接。因此，抑制驱动对于形成一套完整的运动行为是至关重要的。然而，我们仍然没有完全掌握抑制在创造节奏中的作用。这在一定程度上是因为我们缺乏在节段性水平上完全操纵抑制性驱动的能力。

The spinal cord contains neural circuits that can generate the basic locomotor pattern in a variety of species from primitive protovertebrates to man. While the functional architecture is well known for certain vertebrates such as lamprey and xenopus, much less is known about mammalian CPGs. What is starting to become clear is that the mutually excitatory interneurons within each hemisegment may form the kernel or unit oscillator which is interconnected with other oscillators located ipsilaterally in different segments or in the other hemisegment. Thus inhibitory drive is crucial to allow the genesis of a full repertoire of locomotor behaviors. However, we still don't have a full grasp on the role of inhibition in crafting the rhythm. Partly this is because we lack the ability to fully manipulate inhibitory drive at a segmental level.