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Neural activity during a simple reaching task in macaques is counter to gating and rebound in basal ganglia-thalamic communication
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

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

Bettina C Schwab, Daisuke Kase, Andrew Zimnik, Robert Rosenbaum, Marcello G Codianni, Jonathan E Rubin and Robert S Turner
PLoS biology, v 18(10), pp e3000829-e3000829
Oct 2020
PMID: 33048920
url
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000829&type=printableView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000829View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Action Potentials - physiology Animals Basal Ganglia - physiology Brain Mapping Computer Simulation Databases as Topic Female Globus Pallidus - physiology Macaca Microelectrodes Movement Neurons - physiology Reaction Time - physiology Rest - physiology Task Performance and Analysis Thalamus - physiology Ventral Thalamic Nuclei - physiology
Task-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-time-scale 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.

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Domestic collaboration
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Web of Science research areas
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biology
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