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National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 11(120), 2023

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2213302120

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Proprioceptive feedback amplification restores effective locomotion in a neuromechanical model of lampreys with spinal injuries

Journal article published in 2023 by Christina Hamlet ORCID, Lisa Fauci ORCID, Jennifer R. Morgan ORCID, Eric D. Tytell ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Spinal injuries in many vertebrates can result in partial or complete loss of locomotor ability. While mammals often experience permanent loss, some nonmammals, such as lampreys, can regain swimming function, though the exact mechanism is not well understood. One hypothesis is that amplified proprioceptive (body-sensing) feedback can allow an injured lamprey to regain functional swimming even if the descending signal is lost. This study employs a multiscale, integrative, computational model of an anguilliform swimmer fully coupled to a viscous, incompressible fluid and examines the effects of amplified feedback on swimming behavior. This represents a model that analyzes spinal injury recovery by combining a closed-loop neuromechanical model with sensory feedback coupled to a full Navier–Stokes model. Our results show that in some cases, feedback amplification below a spinal lesion is sufficient to partially or entirely restore effective swimming behavior.