scholarly journals Neural activity during a simple reaching task in macaques is counter to gating and rebound in basal ganglia-thalamic communication

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina C. Schwab ◽  
Daisuke Kase ◽  
Andrew Zimnik ◽  
Robert Rosenbaum ◽  
Marcello G. Codianni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
External Source ◽  
Single Unit Activity ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Reaching Task ◽  
Pathological Conditions ◽  
Healthy State ◽  
Ventral Thalamus ◽  
Major Target

AbstractTask-related activity in the ventral thalamus, a major target of basal ganglia output, is often assumed to be permitted or triggered by changes in basal ganglia activity through gating- or rebound-like mechanisms. To test those hypotheses, we sampled single-unit activity from connected basal ganglia output and thalamic nuclei (globus pallidus-internus, GPi, and ventrolateral-anterior nucleus, VLa) in monkeys performing a reaching task. Rate increases were the most common peri-movement change in both nuclei. Moreover, peri-movement changes generally began earlier in VLa than in GPi. Simultaneously-recorded GPi-VLa pairs rarely showed short-timescale spike-to-spike correlations or slow across-trials covariations and both were equally positive and negative. Finally, spontaneous GPi bursts and pauses were both followed by small, slow reductions in VLa rate. These results appear incompatible with standard gating and rebound models. Still, gating or rebound may be possible in other physiological situations: Simulations show how GPi-VLa communication can scale with GPi synchrony and GPi-to-VLa convergence, illuminating how synchrony of basal ganglia output during motor learning or in pathological conditions may render this pathway effective. Thus, in the healthy state, basal ganglia-thalamic communication during learned movement is more subtle than expected, with changes in firing rates possibly being dominated by a common external source.

Tremor cells in the human thalamus: differences among neurological disorders

2004 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Brodkey ◽  
Ronald R. Tasker ◽  
Clement Hamani ◽  
Mary Pat McAndrews ◽  
Jonathan O. Dostrovsky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurological Disorders ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pathological Conditions ◽  
Human Thalamus ◽  
Patient Groups ◽  
Cerebellar Disorders ◽  
Fine Print

Object. Thalamic neurons firing at frequencies synchronous with tremor are thought to play a critical role in the generation and maintenance of tremor. The authors studied the incidence and locations of neurons with tremor-related activity (TRA) in the thalamus of patients with varied pathological conditions—including Parkinson disease (PD), essential tremor (ET), multiple sclerosis (MS), and cerebellar disorders—to determine whether known differences in the effectiveness of thalamic stereotactic procedures for these tremors could be correlated to differences in the incidence or locations of TRA cells. Methods. Seventy-five operations were performed in 61 patients during which 686 TRA cells were recorded from 440 microelectrode trajectories in the thalamus. The locations of the TRA cells in relation to electrophysiologically defined thalamic nuclei and the commissural coordinates were compared among patient groups. The authors found that TRA cells are present in patients with each of these disorders and that these cells populate several nuclei in the ventral lateral tier of the thalamus. There were no large differences in the locations of TRA cells among the different diagnostic classes, although there was a difference in the incidence of TRA cells in patients with PD, who had greater than 3.8 times more cells per thalamic trajectory than patients with ET and approximately five times more cells than patients with MS or cerebellar disorders. Conclusions. There was an increased incidence of TRA in the thalamus of patients with PD. The location of thalamic TRA cells in patients with basal ganglia and other tremor disorders was similar.

scholarly journals Changes in excitability properties of ventromedial motor thalamic neurons in 6-OHDA lesioned mice

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta K Bichler ◽  
Francesco Cavarretta ◽  
Dieter Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Potassium Current ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Inhibitory Input ◽  
Dopamine Depletion ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Adult Mice ◽  
Motor Thalamus

AbstractThe activity of basal ganglia input receiving motor thalamus (BGMT) makes a critical impact on motor cortical processing, but modification in BGMT processing with Parkinsonian conditions have not be investigated at the cellular level. Such changes may well be expected due to homeostatic regulation of neural excitability in the presence of altered synaptic drive with dopamine depletion. We addressed this question by comparing BGMT properties in brain slice recordings between control and unilaterally 6-OHDA treated adult mice. At a minimum of 1 month post 6-OHDA treatment, BGMT neurons showed a highly significant increase in intrinsic excitability, which was primarily due to a decrease in M-type potassium current. BGMT neurons after 6-OHDA treatment also showed an increase in T-type calcium rebound spikes following hyperpolarizing current steps. Biophysical computer modeling of a thalamic neuron demonstrated that an increase in rebound spiking can also be accounted for by a decrease in the M-type potassium current. Modeling also showed that an increase in sag with hyperpolarizing steps found after 6-OHDA treatment could in part but not fully be accounted for by the decrease in M-type current. These findings support the hypothesis that homeostatic changes in BGMT neural properties following 6-OHDA treatment likely influence the signal processing taking place in basal ganglia thalamocortical processing in Parkinson’s disease.Significance StatementOur investigation of the excitability properties of neurons in the basal ganglia input receiving motor thalamus (BGMT) is significant because they are likely to be different from properties in other thalamic nuclei due to the additional inhibitory input stream these neurons receive. Further, they are important to understand the role of BGMT in the dynamic dysfunction of cortico – basal ganglia circuits in Parkinson’s disease. We provide clear evidence that after 6-OHDA treatment of mice important homeostatic changes occur in the intrinsic properties of BGMT neurons. Specifically we identify the M-type potassium current as an important thalamic excitability regulator in the parkinsonian state.

scholarly journals Dual contributions of cerebellar-thalamic networks to learning and offline consolidation of a complex motor task

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres P Varani ◽  
Romain W Sala ◽  
Caroline Mailhes-Hamon ◽  
Jimena L Frontera ◽  
Clément Léna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Cerebellar Nuclei ◽  
Specific Inhibition ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Midline Thalamus ◽  
Ventral Thalamus ◽  
Complex Motor ◽  
Offline Processing

SUMMARYThe contribution of cerebellum to motor learning is often considered to be limited to adaptation, a short-timescale tuning of reflexes and previous learned skills. Yet, the cerebellum is reciprocally connected to two main players of motor learning, the motor cortex and the basal ganglia, via the ventral and midline thalamus respectively. Here, we evaluated the contribution of cerebellar neurons projecting to these thalamic nuclei in a skilled locomotion task in mice. In the cerebellar nuclei, we found task-specific neuronal activities during the task, and lasting changes after the task suggesting an offline processing of task-related information. Using pathway-specific inhibition, we found that dentate neurons projecting to the midline thalamus contribute to learning and retrieval, while interposed neurons projecting to the ventral thalamus contribute to the offline consolidation of savings. Our results thus show that two parallel cerebello-thalamic pathways perform distinct computations operating on distinct timescales in motor learning.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of subsequent memory-related gaze reinstatement

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordana S. Wynn ◽  
Zhong-Xu Liu ◽  
Jennifer D. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Oculomotor Control ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Pattern Similarity ◽  
Occipital Pole

AbstractMounting evidence linking gaze reinstatement- the recapitulation of encoding-related gaze patterns during retrieval- to behavioral measures of memory suggests that eye movements play an important role in mnemonic processing. Yet, the nature of the gaze scanpath, including its informational content and neural correlates, has remained in question. In the present study, we examined eye movement and neural data from a recognition memory task to further elucidate the behavioral and neural bases of functional gaze reinstatement. Consistent with previous work, gaze reinstatement during retrieval of freely-viewed scene images was greater than chance and predictive of recognition memory performance. Gaze reinstatement was also associated with viewing of informationally salient image regions at encoding, suggesting that scanpaths may encode and contain high-level scene content. At the brain level, gaze reinstatement was predicted by encoding-related activity in the occipital pole and basal ganglia, neural regions associated with visual processing and oculomotor control. Finally, cross-voxel brain pattern similarity analysis revealed overlapping subsequent memory and subsequent gaze reinstatement modulation effects in the parahippocampal place area and hippocampus, in addition to the occipital pole and basal ganglia. Together, these findings suggest that encoding-related activity in brain regions associated with scene processing, oculomotor control, and memory supports the formation, and subsequent recapitulation, of functional scanpaths. More broadly, these findings lend support to Scanpath Theory’s assertion that eye movements both encode, and are themselves embedded in, mnemonic representations.

scholarly journals Suprachiasmatic nucleus-dependent and independent outputs driving rhythmic activity in hypothalamic and thalamic neurons

BMC Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Court Harding ◽  
David A. Bechtold ◽  
Timothy M. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus ◽  
Circadian Variation ◽  
Brain Slices ◽  
Rhythmic Activity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Inhibitory Input ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Thalamic Neurons ◽  
Ventral Thalamus ◽  
Central Clock

Abstract Background Daily variations in mammalian physiology are under control of a central clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). SCN timing signals are essential for coordinating cellular clocks and associated circadian variations in cell and tissue function across the body; however, direct SCN projections primarily target a restricted set of hypothalamic and thalamic nuclei involved in physiological and behavioural control. The role of the SCN in driving rhythmic activity in these targets remains largely unclear. Here, we address this issue via multielectrode recording and manipulations of SCN output in adult mouse brain slices. Results Electrical stimulation identifies cells across the midline hypothalamus and ventral thalamus that receive inhibitory input from the SCN and/or excitatory input from the retina. Optogenetic manipulations confirm that SCN outputs arise from both VIP and, more frequently, non-VIP expressing cells and that both SCN and retinal projections almost exclusively target GABAergic downstream neurons. The majority of midline hypothalamic and ventral thalamic neurons exhibit circadian variation in firing and those receiving inhibitory SCN projections consistently exhibit peak activity during epochs when SCN output is low. Physical removal of the SCN confirms that neuronal rhythms in ~ 20% of the recorded neurons rely on central clock input but also reveals many neurons that can express circadian variation in firing independent of any SCN input. Conclusions We identify cell populations across the midline hypothalamus and ventral thalamus exhibiting SCN-dependent and independent rhythms in neural activity, providing new insight into the mechanisms by which the circadian system generates daily physiological rhythms.

Changing directions of forthcoming arm movements: neuronal activity in the presupplementary and supplementary motor area of monkey cerebral cortex

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 2327-2342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Matsuzaka ◽  
J. Tanji
Keyword(s):  
Supplementary Motor Area ◽  
Light Emitting Diode ◽  
Motor Area ◽  
Significant Activity ◽  
Visual Response ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Reaching Task ◽  
Mode Shift ◽  
Trigger Signal ◽  
Auditory Cue

1. To understand roles played by two cortical motor areas, the presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and supplementary motor area (SMA), in changing planned movements voluntarily, cellular activity was examined in two monkeys (Macaca fuscata) trained to perform an arm-reaching task in which they were asked to press one of two target buttons (right or left) in three different task modes. 2. In the first mode (visual), monkeys were visually instructed to result and press either a right or left key in response to a forth coming trigger signal. In the second mode (stay), monkeys were required to wait for the trigger signal and press the same target key as pressed in preceding trials. In the third mode (shift), a 50 Hz auditory cue instructed the monkey to shift the target of the future reach from the previous target to the previous nontarget. 3. While the monkeys were performing this task, we recorded 399 task-related cellular activities from the SMA and the pre-SMA. Among them, we found a group of neurons that exhibited activity changes related specifically to shift trials (shift-related cells). The following properties characterized these 112 neurons. First, they exhibited activity changes after the onset of the 50-Hz auditory cue and before the movement execution when the monkeys were required to change the direction of forthcoming movement. Second, they were not active when the monkeys pressed the same key without changing the direction of the movements. Third, they were not active when the monkeys received the 50-Hz auditory cue but failed to change the direction of the movements by mistake. These observations indicate that the activity of shift-related cells is related to the redirection of the forthcoming movements, but not to the auditory instruction itself or to the location of the target key or the direction of the forthcoming movements. 4. Although infrequently, monkeys made errors in the stay trials and changed directions of the reach voluntarily. In that case, a considerably high proportion of shift-related neurons (12 of 19) exhibited significant activity changes long before initiation of the reach movement. These long-lasting activities were not observed during the preparatory period in correct stay trials, but resembled the shift-related activity observed when the target shift was made toward the same direction. Thus these activity changes were considered to be also related to the process of changing the intended movements voluntarily. 5. We found another population of neurons that showed activity modulation when the target shift was induced by the visual instruction in visual trials (visually guided shift-related neurons). These neurons were active when the light-emitting diode (LED) guided the forthcoming reach to the previous nontarget but not to the previous target. Therefore their activity was not a simple visual response to the LED per se. A majority of them also showed shift-related activity in shift trials (19 of 22 in monkey 2). 6. Neurons exhibiting the shift-related activity were distributed differentially among the two areas. In the pre-SMA, 31% of the neurons recorded showed the shift-related activity, whereas in the SMA, only 7% showed such an activity. These results suggest that pre-SMA and SMA play differential roles in updating the motor plans in accordance with current requirements.

Comparison of Oculomotor Neuronal Activity in Paralaminar and Mediodorsal Thalamus in the Rhesus Monkey

2005 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 614-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikuo Tanibuchi ◽  
Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic
Keyword(s):  
Thalamic Nucleus ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Dorsal Thalamus ◽  
Mediodorsal Thalamic Nucleus ◽  
Picture Stimuli ◽  
Fixation Task ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Lateral Nucleus

We previously reported that neurons in the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD) are topographically organized and express spatial and nonspatial coding properties similar to those of the prefrontal areas with which they are connected. In the course of mapping the dorsal thalamus, we also studied neurons in a subset of thalamic nuclei (the caudal part of the ventral lateral nucleus (VLc), the oral part of the ventral posterior lateral nucleus (VPLo), the parvocellular part of the ventral anterior nucleus (VApc)) lateral to the MD and just across the internal medullary lamina. We compared these “paralaminar” neurons to MD neurons by having monkeys perform the same spatial and nonspatial cognitive tasks as those used to investigate the MD; these included two saccadic tasks—one requiring delayed and the other immediate responses—and one picture fixation task. Of the paralaminar thalamic neurons modulated by the saccadic tasks, a majority had saccade-related activity, and this was nearly always spatially tuned. Also, for about half of these neurons, the saccade-related activity occurred exclusively during the delayed-response task. No neurons with event-related activity in the saccadic tasks were preferentially modulated by specific picture stimuli, although other neurons were. All of these results were similar to what we had found for MD neurons. However, in contrast to the high proportion of presaccadic responses observed in the MD, the majority of saccade-related neurons in paralaminar thalamus exhibited mid- or postsaccadic activity, i.e., that started during or after the saccade. Our findings suggest that neurons in the paralaminar thalamus may be possible conduits of oculomotor feedback signals, especially during memory-guided saccades.

Laterality of Movement-Related Activity Reflects Transformation of Coordinates in Ventral Premotor Cortex and Primary Motor Cortex of Monkeys

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 2008-2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiyoshi Kurata
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Visuomotor Transformation ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Reaching Task ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Cortical Motor ◽  
Target Locations

The ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and the primary motor cortex (MI) of monkeys participate in various sensorimotor integrations, such as the transformation of coordinates from visual to motor space, because the areas contain movement-related neuronal activity reflecting either visual or motor space. In addition to relationship to visual and motor space, laterality of the activity could indicate stages in the visuomotor transformation. Thus we examined laterality and relationship to visual and motor space of movement-related neuronal activity in the PMv and MI of monkeys performing a fast-reaching task with the left or right arm, toward targets with visual and motor coordinates that had been dissociated by shift prisms. We determined laterality of each activity quantitatively and classified it into four types: activity that consistently depended on target locations in either head-centered visual coordinates (V-type) or motor coordinates (M-type) and those that had either differential or nondifferential activity for both coordinates (B- and N-types). A majority of M-type neurons in the areas had preferences for reaching movements with the arm contralateral to the hemisphere where neuronal activity was recorded. In contrast, most of the V-type neurons were recorded in the PMv and exhibited less laterality than the M-type. The B- and N-types were recorded in the PMv and MI and exhibited intermediate properties between the V- and M-types when laterality and correlations to visual and motor space of them were jointly examined. These results suggest that the cortical motor areas contribute to the transformation of coordinates to generate final motor commands.

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