A tiny sensor called spinalNET recorded the electrical activity of spinal neurons of freely moving mice for prolonged periods and with great resolution, even tracking the same neuron over multiple days. The probe is more than a hundred times smaller than the width of a hair, which makes it extremely soft and flexible — nearly as soft as the neural tissue itself.
The researchers says this flexibility gives it the stability and biocompatibility needed to safely record spinal neurons during spinal cord movements, providing low-noise signals from hundreds of neurons.
Using spinalNET, researchers were able to determine that the spinal neurons in the central pattern generator — the neuronal circuit that can produce rhythmic motor patterns such as walking in the absence of specific timing information — seem to be involved with a lot more than rhythmic movement.
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