The Central Nervous Origin of the Swimming Motor Pattern in Embryos of Xenopus Laevis

Rhythmic motor nerve activity was recorded in stage 37/38 Xenopus embryos paralysed with curare. The activity was similar to the swimming motor pattern in the following ways: cycle period (40-125 ms), alternation of activity on either side of a segment, rostro-caudal phase lag. Episodes of rhythmic motor activity could be evoked by stimuli that evoke swimming and inhibited by stimuli that normally inhibit swimming. On this basis we conclude that the swimming motor pattern is generated by a central nervous mechanism and is not dependent on sensory feedback. In addition to the swimming pattern, another pattern of motor activity ('synchrony') was sometimes recorded in curarized embryos. In this, the rhythmic bursts on either side of a segment occurred in synchrony, and the rhythm period (20-50 ms) was half that in swimming. This was probably not an artifact of curarization as there were indications of a similar pattern in uncurarized embryos. Its function remains unclear.