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Primate spinal interneurons show pre-movement instructed delay activity

Nature volume 401, pages 590–594 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Preparatory changes in neural activity before the execution of a movement have been documented in tasks that involve an instructed delay period (an interval between a transient instruction cue and a subsequently triggered movement). Such preparatory activity occurs in many motor centres in the brain, including the primary motor cortex1,2,3,4,5,6, premotor cortex7,8,9, supplementary motor area6,10,11 and basal ganglia6,12,13. Activity during the instructed delay period reflects movement planning, as it correlates with parameters of the cue and the subsequent movement (such as direction and extent5,6,9), although it occurs well before muscle activity. How such delay-period activity shapes the ensuing motor action remains unknown. Here we show that spinal interneurons also exhibit early pre-movement delay activity that often differs from their responses during the subsequent muscle activity. This delay activity resembles the set-related activity found in various supraspinal areas, indicating that movement preparation may occur simultaneously over widely distributed regions, including spinal levels. Our results also suggest that two processes occur in the spinal circuitry during this delay period: the motor network is primed with rate changes in the same direction as subsequent movement-related activity; and a superimposed global inhibition suppresses the expression of this activity in muscles.

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Figure 1: Example of a single instructed delay trial.
Figure 2: Response properties of spinal INs.
Figure 3: Relations between the magnitude of the SDM and the modulation in firing during active torque.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Perlmutter for his help during the experiments; S. Wise for critical review of the manuscript; J. Garlid and L. Shupe for technical assistance; and K. Elias for editorial help.

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  1. Department of Physiology & Biophysics and the Regional Primate Research Center, Box 357330, University of Washington, Seattle , 98195, Washington, USA

    Yifat Prut & Eberhard E. Fetz

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  1. Yifat Prut
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  2. Eberhard E. Fetz
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Correspondence to Yifat Prut.

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Prut, Y., Fetz, E. Primate spinal interneurons show pre-movement instructed delay activity . Nature 401, 590–594 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/44145

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