ePoster

Neuronal encoding of forelimb proprioception in the mouse somatosensory cortex and cerebellum

Mélanie Palacio Manzano, Irina Scheer, Ignacio Alonso, Miriam Planta, Mary Silpa Pereppadan, Mario Prsa
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Mélanie Palacio Manzano, Irina Scheer, Ignacio Alonso, Miriam Planta, Mary Silpa Pereppadan, Mario Prsa

Abstract

Proprioception is the sensation of the position and movement of the body in space. Forelimb proprioceptive afferents not only drive reflexes circuits in the spinal cord, but also ascend to the brain via projections to the external cuneate nucleus (Ecu) in the brainstem. Secondary neurons in the Ecu relay the incoming information via two major pathways: 1) the cuneo-cerebellar track which innervates the cerebellum and allows movement adaptation to unexpected perturbations and 2) the dorsal column-medial lemniscus pathway targeting the somatosensory cortex and allowing for the perception of proprioceptive signals. Although these different functional roles are well established, it remains unclear whether they are subserved by different proprioceptive neural codes. If and how this information is encoded differently by neurons in the cortex and cerebellum remains largely unexplored. We first performed anatomical tracing experiments to quantify the fractions of neurons in the mouse Ecu that project to the cerebellum and to the cortex. We then imaged the activity of granule cells in cerebellar lobules V and VI (Math1-Cre x Ai148 mice) and somatosensory cortex neurons (Rasgrf2-Cre x Ai148 mice) with two-photon microscopy during multi-joint proprioceptive stimulation of the forelimb. Mice were trained to grasp and hold a robotic manipulandum while their limb was passively displaced in different coplanar directions, with different kinematics and starting spatial positions. We anticipate that our ongoing experiments will reveal fundamental properties and differences of cerebellar and cortical proprioceptive neural codes, thereby elucidating neural mechanisms that underlie the adaptation and perception of forelimb movements.

Unique ID: fens-24/neuronal-encoding-forelimb-proprioception-bb7ceb27