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Abstract
The generation of an internal body model and its continuous update is essential in sensorimotor control. Although known to rely on proprioceptive sensory feedback, the underlying mechanism that transforms this sensory feedback into a dynamic body percept remains poorly understood. However, advances in the development of genetic tools for proprioceptive circuit elements, including the sensory receptors, are beginning to offer new and unprecedented leverage to dissect the central pathways responsible for proprioceptive encoding. Simultaneously, new data derived through emerging bionic neural machine-interface technologies reveal clues regarding the relative importance of kinesthetic sensory feedback and insights into the functional proprioceptive substrates that underlie natural motor behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul D Marasco
- Laboratory for Bionic Integration, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA;
- Charles Shor Epilepsy Center, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Advanced Platform Technology Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Joriene C de Nooij
- Department of Neurology and the Columbia University Motor Neuron Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA;
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2
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Parr-Brownlie LC, Itoga CA, Walters JR, Underwood CF. Oscillatory waveform sharpness asymmetry changes in motor thalamus and motor cortex in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. Exp Neurol 2022; 354:114089. [PMID: 35461830 PMCID: PMC11345867 DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2022.114089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) causes bursty and oscillatory activity in basal ganglia output that is thought to contribute to movement deficits through impact on motor thalamus and motor cortex (MCx). We examined the effect of dopamine loss on motor thalamus and motor cortex activity by recording neuronal and LFP activities in ventroanterior-ventrolateral (VAVL) thalamus and MCx in urethane-anesthetised control and parkinsonian rats. Dopamine lesion decreased the firing rate and increased the bursting of putative pyramidal neurons in layer V, but not layer VI, of the MCx without changing other aspects of firing pattern. In contrast, dopamine lesion did not affect VAVL firing rate, pattern or low threshold calcium spike bursts. Slow-wave (~1 Hz) oscillations in LFP recordings were analyzed with conventional power and waveform shape analyses. While dopamine lesion did not influence total power, it was consistently associated with an increase in oscillatory waveform sharpness asymmetry (i.e., sharper troughs vs. peaks) in both motor thalamus and MCx. Furthermore, we found that measures of sharpness asymmetry were positively correlated in paired motor thalamus-MCx recordings, and that correlation coefficients were larger in dopamine lesioned rats. These data support the idea that dysfunctional MCx activity in parkinsonism emerges from subsets of cell groups (e.g. layer V pyramidal neurons) and is evident in the shape but not absolute power of slow-wave oscillations. Hypoactive layer V pyramidal neuron firing in dopamine lesioned rats is unlikely to be driven by VAVL thalamus and may, therefore, reflect the loss of mesocortical dopaminergic afferents and/or changes in intrinsic excitability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise C Parr-Brownlie
- Department of Anatomy, Brain Health Research Centre, Brain Research New Zealand, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Neurophysiological Pharmacology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 35 Convent Drive, Building 35 Room 1C 903, Bethesda, MD 20892-3702, USA.
| | - Christy A Itoga
- Neurophysiological Pharmacology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 35 Convent Drive, Building 35 Room 1C 903, Bethesda, MD 20892-3702, USA
| | - Judith R Walters
- Neurophysiological Pharmacology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 35 Convent Drive, Building 35 Room 1C 903, Bethesda, MD 20892-3702, USA
| | - Conor F Underwood
- Department of Anatomy, Brain Health Research Centre, Brain Research New Zealand, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
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3
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Abstract
The thalamus is a neural processor and integrator for the activities of the forebrain. Surprisingly, little is known about the roles of the "cerebellar" thalamus despite the anatomical observation that all the cortico-cerebello-cortical loops make relay in the main subnuclei of the thalamus. The thalamus displays a broad range of electrophysiological responses, such as neuronal spiking, bursting, or oscillatory rhythms, which contribute to precisely shape and to synchronize activities of cortical areas. We emphasize that the cerebellar thalamus deserves a renewal of interest to better understand its specific contributions to the cerebellar motor and associative functions, especially at a time where the anatomy between cerebellum and basal ganglia is being rewritten.
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Nashef A, Cohen O, Israel Z, Harel R, Prut Y. Cerebellar Shaping of Motor Cortical Firing Is Correlated with Timing of Motor Actions. Cell Rep 2019; 23:1275-1285. [PMID: 29719244 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.04.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2017] [Revised: 02/15/2018] [Accepted: 04/06/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In higher mammals, motor timing is considered to be dictated by cerebellar control of motor cortical activity, relayed through the cerebellar-thalamo-cortical (CTC) system. Nonetheless, the way cerebellar information is integrated with motor cortical commands and affects their temporal properties remains unclear. To address this issue, we activated the CTC system in primates and found that it efficiently recruits motor cortical cells; however, the cortical response was dominated by prolonged inhibition that imposed a directional activation across the motor cortex. During task performance, cortical cells that integrated CTC information fired synchronous bursts at movement onset. These cells expressed a stronger correlation with reaction time than non-CTC cells. Thus, the excitation-inhibition interplay triggered by the CTC system facilitates transient recruitment of a cortical subnetwork at movement onset. The CTC system may shape neural firing to produce the required profile to initiate movements and thus plays a pivotal role in timing motor actions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdulraheem Nashef
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, IMRIC and ELSC, The Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel
| | - Oren Cohen
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, IMRIC and ELSC, The Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel
| | - Zvi Israel
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ran Harel
- Department of Neurosurgery, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Yifat Prut
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, IMRIC and ELSC, The Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel.
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Tanaka YH, Tanaka YR, Kondo M, Terada SI, Kawaguchi Y, Matsuzaki M. Thalamocortical Axonal Activity in Motor Cortex Exhibits Layer-Specific Dynamics during Motor Learning. Neuron 2018; 100:244-258.e12. [PMID: 30174116 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2018] [Revised: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 08/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The thalamus is the hub through which neural signals are transmitted from the basal ganglia and cerebellum to the neocortex. However, thalamocortical axonal activity during motor learning remains largely undescribed. We conducted two-photon calcium imaging of thalamocortical axonal activity in the motor cortex of mice learning a self-initiated lever-pull task. Layer 1 (L1) axons came to exhibit activity at lever-pull initiation and termination, while layer 3 (L3) axons did so at lever-pull initiation. L1 population activity had a sequence structure related to both lever-pull duration and reproducibility. Stimulation of the substantia nigra pars reticulata activated more L1 than L3 axons, whereas deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) stimulation did the opposite. Lesions to either the dorsal striatum or the DCN impaired motor learning and disrupted temporal dynamics in both layers. Thus, layer-specific thalamocortical signals evolve with the progression of learning, which requires both the basal ganglia and cerebellar activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasuyo H Tanaka
- Division of Brain Circuits, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama, Japan; Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yasuhiro R Tanaka
- Division of Brain Circuits, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama, Japan; Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Masashi Kondo
- Division of Brain Circuits, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan; Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shin-Ichiro Terada
- Division of Brain Circuits, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan; Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yasuo Kawaguchi
- CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama, Japan; SOKENDAI (the Graduate University of Advanced Studies), Okazaki, Japan; Division of Cerebral Circuitry, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
| | - Masanori Matsuzaki
- Division of Brain Circuits, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama, Japan; Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; SOKENDAI (the Graduate University of Advanced Studies), Okazaki, Japan; International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo, Japan.
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Nashef A, Rapp H, Nawrot MP, Prut Y. Area-specific processing of cerebellar-thalamo-cortical information in primates. BIOLOGICAL CYBERNETICS 2018; 112:141-152. [PMID: 29094187 DOI: 10.1007/s00422-017-0738-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2017] [Accepted: 10/12/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The cerebellar-thalamo-cortical (CTC) system plays a major role in controlling timing and coordination of voluntary movements. However, the functional impact of this system on motor cortical sites has not been documented in a systematic manner. We addressed this question by implanting a chronic stimulating electrode in the superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP) and recording evoked multiunit activity (MUA) and the local field potential (LFP) in the primary motor cortex ([Formula: see text]), the premotor cortex ([Formula: see text]) and the somatosensory cortex ([Formula: see text]). The area-dependent response properties were estimated using the MUA response shape (quantified by decomposing into principal components) and the time-dependent frequency content of the evoked LFP. Each of these signals alone enabled good classification between the somatosensory and motor sites. Good classification between the primary motor and premotor areas could only be achieved when combining features from both signal types. Topographical single-site representation of the predicted class showed good recovery of functional organization. Finally, the probability for misclassification had a broad topographical organization. Despite the area-specific response features to SCP stimulation, there was considerable site-to-site variation in responses, specifically within the motor cortical areas. This indicates a substantial SCP impact on both the primary motor and premotor cortex. Given the documented involvement of these cortical areas in preparation and execution of movement, this result may suggest a CTC contribution to both motor execution and motor preparation. The stimulation responses in the somatosensory cortex were sparser and weaker. However, a functional role of the CTC system in somatosensory computation must be taken into consideration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdulraheem Nashef
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, IMRIC, Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University, 91120, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Hannes Rapp
- Computational Systems Neuroscience, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Martin P Nawrot
- Computational Systems Neuroscience, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Yifat Prut
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, IMRIC, Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University, 91120, Jerusalem, Israel.
- Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel.
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Bosch-Bouju C, Smither RA, Hyland BI, Parr-Brownlie LC. Reduced reach-related modulation of motor thalamus neural activity in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. J Neurosci 2014; 34:15836-50. [PMID: 25429126 PMCID: PMC6608476 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0893-14.2014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2014] [Revised: 10/01/2014] [Accepted: 10/04/2014] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Motor thalamus (Mthal) is a key node in the corticobasal ganglia (BG) loop that controls complex, cognitive aspects of movement. In Parkinson's disease (PD), profound alterations in neuronal activity occur in BG nuclei and cortex. Because Mthal is located between these two structures, altered Mthal activity has been assumed to underlie the pathogenesis of PD motor deficits. However, to date, inconsistent changes in neuronal firing rate and pattern have been reported in parkinsonian animals. Moreover, although a distinct firing pattern of Mthal neurons, called low-threshold calcium spike bursts (LTS bursts), is observed in reduced preparations, it remains unknown whether they occur or what their role might be in behaving animals. We recorded Mthal spiking activity in control and unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesioned rats performing a skilled forelimb-reaching task. We show for the first time that Mthal firing rate in control rats is modulated in a temporally precise pattern during reach-to-grasp movements, with a peak at the time of the reach-end and troughs just before and after it. We identified LTS-like events on the basis of LTS burst characteristics. These were rare, but also modulated, decreasing in incidence just after reach-end. The inhibitory modulations in firing rate and LTS-like events were abolished in parkinsonian rats. These data confirm that nigrostriatal dopamine depletion is accompanied by profound and specific deficits in movement-related Mthal activity. These changes would severely impair Mthal contributions to motor program development in motor cortex and are likely to be an important factor underlying the movement deficits of PD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Roseanna A Smither
- Department of Physiology, Otago School of Medical Science, Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
| | - Brian I Hyland
- Department of Physiology, Otago School of Medical Science, Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
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Bosch-Bouju C, Hyland BI, Parr-Brownlie LC. Motor thalamus integration of cortical, cerebellar and basal ganglia information: implications for normal and parkinsonian conditions. Front Comput Neurosci 2013; 7:163. [PMID: 24273509 PMCID: PMC3822295 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2013.00163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 157] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2013] [Accepted: 10/24/2013] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Motor thalamus (Mthal) is implicated in the control of movement because it is strategically located between motor areas of the cerebral cortex and motor-related subcortical structures, such as the cerebellum and basal ganglia (BG). The role of BG and cerebellum in motor control has been extensively studied but how Mthal processes inputs from these two networks is unclear. Specifically, there is considerable debate about the role of BG inputs on Mthal activity. This review summarizes anatomical and physiological knowledge of the Mthal and its afferents and reviews current theories of Mthal function by discussing the impact of cortical, BG and cerebellar inputs on Mthal activity. One view is that Mthal activity in BG and cerebellar-receiving territories is primarily "driven" by glutamatergic inputs from the cortex or cerebellum, respectively, whereas BG inputs are modulatory and do not strongly determine Mthal activity. This theory is steeped in the assumption that the Mthal processes information in the same way as sensory thalamus, through interactions of modulatory inputs with a single driver input. Another view, from BG models, is that BG exert primary control on the BG-receiving Mthal so it effectively relays information from BG to cortex. We propose a new "super-integrator" theory where each Mthal territory processes multiple driver or driver-like inputs (cortex and BG, cortex and cerebellum), which are the result of considerable integrative processing. Thus, BG and cerebellar Mthal territories assimilate motivational and proprioceptive motor information previously integrated in cortico-BG and cortico-cerebellar networks, respectively, to develop sophisticated motor signals that are transmitted in parallel pathways to cortical areas for optimal generation of motor programmes. Finally, we briefly review the pathophysiological changes that occur in the BG in parkinsonism and generate testable hypotheses about how these may affect processing of inputs in the Mthal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clémentine Bosch-Bouju
- 1Department of Anatomy, Otago School of Medical Science, University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand ; 2Brain Health Research Centre, Otago School of Medical Science, University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand
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Ebner TJ, Hewitt AL, Popa LS. What features of limb movements are encoded in the discharge of cerebellar neurons? THE CEREBELLUM 2012; 10:683-93. [PMID: 21203875 DOI: 10.1007/s12311-010-0243-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This review examines the signals encoded in the discharge of cerebellar neurons during voluntary arm and hand movements, assessing the state of our knowledge and the implications for hypotheses of cerebellar function. The evidence for the representation of forces, joint torques, or muscle activity in the discharge of cerebellar neurons is limited, questioning the validity of theories that the cerebellum directly encodes the motor command. In contrast, kinematic parameters such as position, direction, and velocity are widely and robustly encoded in the activity of cerebellar neurons. These findings favor hypotheses that the cerebellum plans or controls movements in a kinematic framework, such as the proposal that the cerebellum provides a forward internal model. Error signals are needed for on-line correction and motor learning, and several hypotheses postulate the need for their representations in the cerebellum. Error signals have been described mostly in the complex spike discharge of Purkinje cells, but no consensus has emerged on the exact information signaled by complex spikes during limb movements. Newer studies suggest that simple spike firing may also encode error signals. Finally, Purkinje cells located more posterior and laterally in the cerebellar cortex and dentate neurons encode nonmotor, task-related signals such as visual cues. These results suggest that cerebellar neurons provide a complement of information about motor behaviors. We assert that additional single unit studies are needed using rich movement paradigms, given the power of this approach to directly test specific hypotheses about cerebellar function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy J Ebner
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 2001 Sixth Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
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Spraker MB, Yu H, Corcos DM, Vaillancourt DE. Role of individual basal ganglia nuclei in force amplitude generation. J Neurophysiol 2007; 98:821-34. [PMID: 17567775 PMCID: PMC2367092 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00239.2007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop is an important neural circuit that regulates motor control. A key parameter that the nervous system regulates is the level of force to exert against an object during tasks such as grasping. Previous studies indicate that the basal ganglia do not exhibit increased activity with increasing amplitude of force, although these conclusions are based mainly on the putamen. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate which regions in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and motor cortex display increased activity when producing pinch-grip contractions of increasing force amplitude. We found that the internal portion of the globus pallidus (GPi) and subthalamic nucleus (STN) had a positive increase in percent signal change with increasing force, whereas the external portion of the globus pallidus, anterior putamen, posterior putamen, and caudate did not. In the thalamus we found that the ventral thalamic regions increase in percent signal change and activation volume with increasing force amplitude. The contralateral and ipsilateral primary motor/somatosensory (M1/S1) cortices had a positive increase in percent signal change and activation volume with increasing force amplitude, and the contralateral M1/S1 had a greater increase in percent signal change and activation volume than the ipsilateral side. We also found that deactivation did not change across force in the motor cortex and basal ganglia, but that the ipsilateral M1/S1 had greater deactivation than the contralateral M1/S1. Our findings provide direct evidence that GPi and STN regulate the amplitude of force output. These findings emphasize the heterogeneous role of individual nuclei of the basal ganglia in regulating specific parameters of motor output.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew B Spraker
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
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