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Neuroscience

Feedback throttled down for smooth moves

Nature volume 509, pages 38–39 (2014)Cite this article

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A group of regulatory neurons in the spinal cord has been found to reduce sensory feedback to muscles in mice. Removal of these neurons leads to repetitive limb oscillations during reaching. See Article p.43

Sensory signals from our limbs allow us to interpret a wealth of information, from perceiving the objects we touch to correcting errors during movement. But despite their importance, the signals are turned down (throttled down) when we move1. How does this happen, and why? On page 43 of this issue, Fink et al.2 report that, in mice, the signals are throttled down by a set of neurons in the spinal cord, and that removal of these neurons causes the animals' limbs to oscillate dramatically whenever they reach for food.

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Figure 1: Controlling reaching movements in mice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stephen H. Scott and Frédéric Crevecoeur are in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.,

    Stephen H. Scott & Frédéric Crevecoeur

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  1. Stephen H. Scott
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  2. Frédéric Crevecoeur
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Correspondence to Stephen H. Scott.

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Scott, S., Crevecoeur, F. Feedback throttled down for smooth moves. Nature 509, 38–39 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/509038a

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