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Distinct descending motor cortex pathways and their roles in movement

Author

Listed:
  • Michael N. Economo

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  • Sarada Viswanathan

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  • Bosiljka Tasic

    (Allen Institute for Brain Science)

  • Erhan Bas

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  • Johan Winnubst

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  • Vilas Menon

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  • Lucas T. Graybuck

    (Allen Institute for Brain Science)

  • Thuc Nghi Nguyen

    (Allen Institute for Brain Science)

  • Kimberly A. Smith

    (Allen Institute for Brain Science)

  • Zizhen Yao

    (Allen Institute for Brain Science)

  • Lihua Wang

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  • Charles R. Gerfen

    (National Institute of Mental Health)

  • Jayaram Chandrashekar

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  • Hongkui Zeng

    (Allen Institute for Brain Science)

  • Loren L. Looger

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  • Karel Svoboda

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

Abstract

Activity in the motor cortex predicts movements, seconds before they are initiated. This preparatory activity has been observed across cortical layers, including in descending pyramidal tract neurons in layer 5. A key question is how preparatory activity is maintained without causing movement, and is ultimately converted to a motor command to trigger appropriate movements. Here, using single-cell transcriptional profiling and axonal reconstructions, we identify two types of pyramidal tract neuron. Both types project to several targets in the basal ganglia and brainstem. One type projects to thalamic regions that connect back to motor cortex; populations of these neurons produced early preparatory activity that persisted until the movement was initiated. The second type projects to motor centres in the medulla and mainly produced late preparatory activity and motor commands. These results indicate that two types of motor cortex output neurons have specialized roles in motor control.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael N. Economo & Sarada Viswanathan & Bosiljka Tasic & Erhan Bas & Johan Winnubst & Vilas Menon & Lucas T. Graybuck & Thuc Nghi Nguyen & Kimberly A. Smith & Zizhen Yao & Lihua Wang & Charles R. Ge, 2018. "Distinct descending motor cortex pathways and their roles in movement," Nature, Nature, vol. 563(7729), pages 79-84, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:563:y:2018:i:7729:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0642-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0642-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Yanjie Wang & Zhaonan Chen & Guofen Ma & Lizhao Wang & Yanmei Liu & Meiling Qin & Xiang Fei & Yifan Wu & Min Xu & Siyu Zhang, 2023. "A frontal transcallosal inhibition loop mediates interhemispheric balance in visuospatial processing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Bowen Dempsey & Selvee Sungeelee & Phillip Bokiniec & Zoubida Chettouh & Séverine Diem & Sandra Autran & Evan R. Harrell & James F. A. Poulet & Carmen Birchmeier & Harry Carey & Auguste Genovesio & Si, 2021. "A medullary centre for lapping in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Oleksandr Sorochynskyi & Stéphane Deny & Olivier Marre & Ulisse Ferrari, 2021. "Predicting synchronous firing of large neural populations from sequential recordings," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Shaina Lu & Cantin Ortiz & Daniel Fürth & Stephan Fischer & Konstantinos Meletis & Anthony Zador & Jesse Gillis, 2021. "Assessing the replicability of spatial gene expression using atlas data from the adult mouse brain," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(7), pages 1-27, July.

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