Topic: Motor behaviors

Motor behaviors arise from dynamic interactions of interconnected neural populations across distributed brain areas. The underlying principles of information flow remain largely unknown. Here, we investigate the functional roles of motor cortex and intralaminar thalamus in driving specific subpopulations of the striatum - the input nucleus of the basal ganglia - during movements. We recorded the activity of direct and indirect pathway medium spiny neurons (dMSNs and iMSNs) in the striatum as mice performed a skilled motor task, by in vivo two-photon calcium imaging through gradient refractive

Motor behaviors arise from dynamic interactions of interconnected neural populations across distributed brain areas. The underlying principles of information flow remain largely unknown. Here, we investigate the functional roles of motor cortex and intralaminar thalamus in driving specific cell populations of the striatum - the input nucleus of the basal ganglia - during movements. We recorded the activity of direct and indirect pathway medium spiny neurons (dMSNs and iMSNs) in the striatum as mice performed a skilled motor task, by in vivo two-photon calcium imaging through GRIN lens. Further

The Xenopus laevis frog shows a wide range of motor behaviors during metamorphosis, transitioning from tail-based escape swimming, to free swimming, and finally, limb-based movement. This swim-to-limb transition allows us to study in a single organism how motor and interneurons in the spinal cord generate these behaviors. Here, utilizing advances in genetic manipulation and behavioral tracking, we dissect the molecular features and contribution of each spinal cord cardinal class to swim versus limb behavior over frog metamorphosis.We devise a high-throughput CRISPR screen, in which we knock ou

The cerebellum helps to coordinate both motor and non-motor behaviors. Several studies suggest that the development of the cerebellum is an important process that regulates the onset of a broad range of behaviors. Its dysfunction during development could lead to neurodevelopmental disorders such as intellectual disability, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity later in life. The field of neuro-immunology is growing, and immune cells have been described as important modulators of neurodevelopment. We used spectral confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, transcriptomic profiling, bioinformatic