Multiple spontaneous rhythmic activity patterns generated by the embryonic mouse spinal cord occur within a specific developmental time window

Spontaneous rhythmic activity is a ubiquitous phenomenon in developing neural networks and is assumed to play an important role in the elaboration of mature circuitry. Here we describe the day-by-day evolution of spontaneous activity in the embryonic mouse spinal cord and show that, at a specific developmental stage, 2 distinct rhythms coexist. On embryonic days E12.5 and E13.5, we observed a single type of regularly recurring short spike-episodes synchronized across cervical, thoracic, and lumbar levels. By E14.5, in addition to this motor rhythm, another type of spontaneous synchronous activity appeared, characterized by much longer lasting episodes separated by longer time intervals. On E15.5, these long episodes disappeared. Short episodes were less numerous and more irregular except at the cervical level where a rhythm was occasionally observed. By E16.5, this cervical rhythm became more robust, whereas the lumbar level fell almost silent. Surprisingly, at E17.5, spontaneous activity resumed at caudal levels, now characterized by numerous erratic short episodes. A striking ontogenetic feature of spontaneous activity was the occurrence of long episodes only at E14.5. Although concomitant at all levels of the spinal cord, long episodes displayed different patterns along the spinal cord, with tonic firing at the thoracic level and rhythmic discharge with occasional sequences of left/right alternation at the lumbar level. Thus at E14.5, the originally synchronized network has started to segregate into more specialized subnetworks. In conclusion, this work suggests that ongoing spontaneous rhythms do not follow a smooth evolution during maturation, but rather undergo profound changes at very specific stages.