The study of mirror neurons (MN) has a long way since its discovery on monkeys and later on humans. However, in literature there are inconsistencies on the ways stimuli are presented and on the time of presentation. Which is the best way to present motor movement stimuli? Is it possible to estimate when the mirror neurons effect take place by using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation at specific time windows? In the current study we test different ways of stimuli presentation (photo and video of hand movements) and brain stimulation (e.g. TMS) delivered on the dominant primary motor cortex (M1) at different time windows. Our aim is to solve this void still present on the field and create a standardized protocol that will generate the strongest mirror neurons response in order to have the way for future studies on the field.

The primary motor cortex (M1) is a major output center for movement execution and motor learning, and its dysfunction contributes to the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD). While human studies have indicated that a loss of midbrain dopamine neurons alters M1 activation, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. Using a mouse model of PD, we uncovered several shifts within M1 circuitry following dopamine depletion, including impaired excitation by thalamocortical afferents and altered excitability. Our findings add to the growing body of literature highlighting M1 as a major contributor in PD, and provide targeted neural substrates for possible therapeutic interventions.

The ability to reach, grasp, and manipulate objects is a remarkable expression of motor skill, and the loss of this ability in injury, stroke, or disease can be devastating. These behaviors are controlled by the coordinated activity of tens of millions of neurons distributed across many CNS regions, including the primary motor cortex. While many studies have characterized the activity of single cortical neurons during reaching, the principles governing the dynamics of large, distributed neural populations remain largely unknown. Recent work in primates has suggested that during the execution of reaching, motor cortex may autonomously generate the neural pattern controlling the movement, much like the spinal central pattern generator for locomotion. In this seminar, I will describe recent work that tests this hypothesis using large-scale neural recording, high-resolution behavioral measurements, dynamical systems approaches to data analysis, and optogenetic perturbations in mice. We find, by contrast, that motor cortex requires strong, continuous, and time-varying thalamic input to generate the neural pattern driving reaching. In a second line of work, we demonstrate that the cortico-cerebellar loop is not critical for driving the arm towards the target, but instead fine-tunes movement parameters to enable precise and accurate behavior. Finally, I will describe my future plans to apply these experimental and analytical approaches to the adaptive control of locomotion in complex environments.