Cortex commands the performance of skilled movement

Guo, J.-Z.; Graves, A.R.; Guo, W.W.; Zheng, J.; Lee, A.; Rodríguez-González, J.; Li, N.; Macklin, J.J.; Phillips, J.W.; Mensh, B.D.; Branson, K.; Hantman, A.W.

Abstract

Mammalian cerebral cortex is accepted as being critical for voluntary motor control, but what functions depend on cortex is still unclear. Here we used rapid, reversible optogenetic inhibition to test the role of cortex during a head-fixed task in which mice reach, grab, and eat a food pellet. Sudden cortical inhibition blocked initiation or froze execution of this skilled prehension behavior, but left untrained forelimb movements unaffected. Unexpectedly, kinematically normal prehension occurred immediately after cortical inhibition, even during rest periods lacking cue and pellet. This ‘rebound’ prehension was only evoked in trained and food-deprived animals, suggesting that a motivation-gated motor engram sufficient to evoke prehension is activated at inhibition’s end. These results demonstrate the necessity and sufficiency of cortical activity for enacting a learned skill.

Citation

Guo, J., Graves, A., Guo, W., Zheng, J., Lee, A., Rodríguez-González, J., …Hantman, A. (2015). Cortex commands the performance of skilled movement. eLife, 4, Article e10774. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.10774

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Dec 2, 2015
• Publication Date: Dec 2, 2015
• Deposit Date: Mar 21, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 29, 2017
• Journal: eLife
• Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Article Number: e10774
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.10774
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1361702