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SUMMARYTo achieve smooth motor performance in a rich and changing sensory environment, motor outputs must be constantly updated in response to sensory feedback. Although proprioception and cutaneous information are known to modulate motor output, it is unclear whether they work together in the spinal cord to shape complex motor actions such as locomotion. Here we identify the medial deep dorsal horn as a “hot zone” of convergent proprioceptive and cutaneous input for locomotion. Due to increased responsiveness to sensory input, inhibitory interneurons in the medial deep dorsal horn area are preferentially recruited in locomotion. To study inhibitory interneurons in this area, we utilize an intersectional genetic strategy to isolate and ablate a population of parvalbumin-expressing glycinergic interneurons in the medial deep dorsal horn (dPVs). Using histological and electrophysiological methods we find that dPVs integrate convergent proprioceptive and cutaneous input while targeting diffuse ventral horn motor networks. dPV ablation paired with behavioral testing and EMG recordings reveals a role for dPVs in the timing and magnitude of muscle recruitment, controlling step-cycle transition, kinematics, and limb coordination in a state and phase-dependent manner. Together, our results suggest that convergent sensory inputs work in concert to coordinate the activity of dPVs, and in-turn regulate motor output in a contextually relevant manner.HighlightsInhibitory interneurons in the medial deep dorsal horn (mDDH), functionally represented by a large glycinergic PV expressing subpopulation (dPVs), receive convergent input from cutaneous receptors and proprioceptors and are preferentially recruited during locomotion.While dPVs diffusely target motor networks, the temporal dynamics of their activity is regulated by incoming inputs, suggesting a role in modulation of motor output timing.Ablation of dPVs alters stance-to-swing transition and step frequency during high-speed locomotion, likely to result from loss of sensory mediated muscle inhibition.Ablation of dPVs alters joint kinematics at the transition from stance-to-swing, likely to result from loss of sensory mediated muscle amplitude attenuation.

SUMMARYImprovements in the speed and cost of expression profiling of neuronal tissues offer an unprecedented opportunity to define ever finer subgroups of neurons for functional studies. In the spinal cord, single cell RNA sequencing studies1,2support decades of work on spinal cord lineage studies3–5, offering a unique opportunity to probe adult function based on developmental lineage. While Cre/Flp recombinase intersectional strategies remain a powerful tool to manipulate spinal neurons6–8, the field lacks genetic tools and strategies to restrict manipulations to the adult mouse spinal cord at the speed at which new tools develop. This study establishes a new workflow for intersectional mouse-viral strategies to dissect adult spinal function based on developmental lineages in a modular fashion. To restrict manipulations to the spinal cord, we generate a brain-sparingHoxb8FlpOmouse line restricting Flp recombinase expression to caudal tissue. Recapitulating endogenousHoxb8gene expression9, Flp-dependent reporter expression is present in the caudal embryo starting day 9.5. This expression restricts Flp activity in the adult to the caudal brainstem and below.Hoxb8FlpOheterozygous and homozygous mice do not develop any of the sensory or locomotor phenotypes evident in Hoxb8 heterozygous or mutant animals10,11, suggesting normal developmental function of the Hoxb8 gene and protein inHoxb8FlpOmice. Compared to the variability of brain recombination in available caudal Cre and Flp lines12,13Hoxb8FlpOactivity is not present in the brain above the caudal brainstem, independent of mouse genetic background. Lastly, we combine theHoxb8FlpOmouse line with dorsal horn developmental lineage Cre mouse lines to express GFP in developmentally determined dorsal horn populations. Using GFP-dependent Cre recombinase viruses14and Cre recombinase-dependent inhibitory chemogenetics, we target developmentally defined lineages in the adult. We show how developmental knock-out versus transient adult silencing of the same RORβlineage neurons affects adult sensorimotor behavior. In summary, this new mouse line and viral approach provides a blueprint to dissect adult somatosensory circuit function using Cre/Flp genetic tools to target spinal cord interneurons based on genetic lineage.In briefWe describe the generation of aHoxb8FlpOmouse line that targets Flp-recombinase expression to the spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, and caudal viscera. This line can be used in intersectional Cre/Flp strategies to restrict manipulations to the caudal nervous system. Additionally, we describe an intersectional genetics+viral strategy to convert developmental GFP expression into adult Cre expression, allowing for modular incorporation of viral tools into intersectional genetics. This approach allows for manipulation of a developmentally determined lineage in the adult. This strategy is also more accessible than traditional intersectional genetics, and can adapt to the constantly evolving available viral repertoire.Highlights-A newHoxb8FlpOmouse line allows Flp-dependent recombination in the spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, and caudal viscera.-We observed no ectopic brain expression across mouse genetic backgrounds with theHoxb8FlpOmouse line.-Combining this new mouse line for intersectional genetics and a viral approach, we provide a novel pipeline to target and manipulate developmentally defined adult spinal circuits.

1.AbstractGenetically encoded reporters have greatly increased our understanding of biology, especially in neuroscience. While fluorescent reporters have been widely used, photostability and phototoxicity have hindered their use in long-term experiments. Bioluminescence overcomes some of these challenges but requires the addition of an exogenous luciferin limiting its use. Using a modular approach we have engineered Autonomous Molecular BioluminEscent Reporter (AMBER), an indicator of membrane potential. Unlike other luciferase-luciferin bioluminescent systems, AMBER encodes the genes to express both the luciferase and luciferin. AMBER is a voltage-gated luciferase coupling the functionalities of theCionavoltage-sensing domain (VSD) and bacterial luciferase, luxAB. When AMBER is co-expressed with the luciferin producing genes it reversibly switches the bioluminescent intensity as a function of membrane potential. Using biophysical and biochemical methods we show that AMBER modulates its enzymatic activity as a function of the membrane potential. AMBER shows several-fold increase in the luminescent (ΔL/L) signal upon switching from the off to on state when the cell is depolarized.In vivoexpression of AMBER inC. elegansallowed detecting pharyngeal pumping action and mechanosensory neural activity from multiple worms simultaneously. AMBER reports neural activity of multiple animals at the same time and can be used in social behavior assays to elucidate the role of membrane potential underlying behavior.2.Significance StatementThere have been many exciting advances in the development of genetically encoded voltage indicators to monitor intracelluar voltage changes. Most sensors employ fluorescence, which requires external light, potentially causing photobleaching or overheating. Consequently, there has been interest in developing luminescence reporters. However, they require addition of an exogenous substrate to produce light intracellularly. Here, we engineered a genetically encoded bioluminescent voltage indicator, AMBER, which unlike other bioluminescent activity indicators, does not require addition of an exogenous substrate. AMBER allows a large differential signal, a high signal-to-noise ratio, and causes minimal metabolic demand on cells. We used AMBER to record voltage activity in freely-moving C.elegans, demonstrating that AMBER is a important new tool for monitoring neuronal activity during social behavior.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) often results in life-long sensorimotor impairment. Spontaneous recovery from SCI is limited, as supraspinal fibers cannot spontaneously regenerate to form functional networks below the level of injury. Despite this, animal models and humans exhibit many motor behaviors indicative of recovery when electrical stimulation is applied epidurally to the dorsal aspect of the lumbar spinal cord. In 1976, epidural stimulation was introduced to alleviate spasticity in Multiple Sclerosis. Since then, epidural electrical stimulation (EES) has been demonstrated to improve voluntary mobility across the knee and/or ankle in several SCI patients, highlighting its utility in enhancing motor activation. The mechanisms that EES induces to drive these improvements in sensorimotor function remain largely unknown. In this review, we discuss several sensorimotor plasticity mechanisms that we hypothesize may enable epidural stimulation to promote recovery, including changes in local lumbar circuitry, propriospinal interneurons, and the internal model. Finally, we discuss genetic tools for afferent modulation as an emerging method to facilitate the search for the mechanisms of action.

One method for the evaluation of sensorimotor therapeutic interventions, the horizontal ladder walking task, analyzes locomotor changes that may occur after disease, injury, or by external manipulation. Although this task is well suited for detection of large effects, it may overlook smaller changes. The inability to detect small effect sizes may be due to a neural compensatory mechanism known as “cross limb transfer”, or the contribution of the contralateral limb to estimate an injured or perturbed limb’s position. The robust transfer of compensation from the contralateral limb may obscure subtle locomotor outcomes that are evoked by clinically relevant therapies, in the early onset of disease, or between higher levels of recovery. Here, we propose angled rungs as a novel modification to the horizontal ladder walking task. Easily-adjustable angled rungs force rats to locomote across a different locomotion path for each hindlimb and may therefore make information from the contralateral limb less useful. Using hM3Dq (excitatory) Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) expressed in large diameter peripheral afferents of the hindlimb in the intact animal, we characterized the sensitivity of our design to detect stepping differences by comparing locomotor changes observed on angled rungs to those observed on a standard horizontal ladder. On our novel asymmetrical ladder, activation of DREADDs resulted in significant differences in rung misses (p = 0.000011) and weight-supporting events (p = 0.049). By comparison, on a standard ladder, we did not observe differences in these parameters (p = 0.86 and p = 0.98, respectively). Additionally, no locomotor differences were detected in baseline and inactivated DREADDs trials when we compared ladder types, suggesting that the angled rungs do not change animal gait behavior unless intervention or injury is introduced. Significant changes observed with angled rungs may demonstrate more sensitive probing of locomotor changes due to the decoupling of cross limb transfer.