Motor control articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Brain–spine interfaces have been used to enable leg movement following spinal cord injury, but movement is either involuntary or not adjustable. Here, the authors show in rats that a proportional stimulation interface permits voluntary movement and augments recovery in conjunction with rehabilitation.

    • Marco Bonizzato
    • , Galyna Pidpruzhnykova
    •  & Grégoire Courtine

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Brain-computer interface (BCI) can improve motor skills on stroke patients. This study shows that BCI-controlled neuromuscular electrical stimulation therapy can cause cortical reorganization due to activation of efferent and afferent pathways, and this effect can be long lasting in a brain region specific manner.

    • A. Biasiucci
    • , R. Leeb
    •  & J. d. R. Millán

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Movements are continually constrained by the current body position and its relation to the surroundings. Here the authors report that the population activity of monkey dorsal premotor cortex neurons dynamically represents the probability distribution of possible reach directions.

    • Joshua I. Glaser
    • , Matthew G. Perich
    •  & Konrad P. Kording

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Forward models predict and attenuate the sensory feedback of voluntary movement yet their involvement in motor imagery has only been theorized. Here the authors show that motor imagery recruits forward models to elicit sensory attenuation to the same extent as real movements.

    • Konstantina Kilteni
    • , Benjamin Jan Andersson
    •  & H. Henrik Ehrsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cerebellum is thought to encode predictions about upcoming movements and provide a sensory prediction error based on the actual movement. Here the authors manipulate visual feedback during a movement-tracking task to show that both signals are carried in the lead and lag modulations of simple spikes of Purkinje cells.

    • Martha L. Streng
    • , Laurentiu S. Popa
    •  & Timothy J. Ebner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Excitatory neurons in the preBötzinger Complex generate bursting activity responsible for breathing, but these alone cannot generate physiological breathing frequencies. Here the authors show how inhibition regulates refractory properties of excitatory neurons to allow dynamic breathing rhythms.

    • Nathan Andrew Baertsch
    • , Hans Christopher Baertsch
    •  & Jan Marino Ramirez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Repeat expansion mutation in C9ORF72 is the most common cause of familial ALS. Here, the authors generate motor neurons from cells of patients with C9ORF72 mutations, and characterize changes in gene expression in these motor neurons compared to genetically corrected lines, which suggest that glutamate receptor subunit GluA1 is dysregulated in this form of ALS.

    • Bhuvaneish T. Selvaraj
    • , Matthew R. Livesey
    •  & Siddharthan Chandran

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Complex motor behaviors such as birdsong are learned through practice and are thought to depend on specific excitatory connectivity in premotor circuits. Here the authors show that song learning in Bengalese Finches is associated with enrichment of inhibitory network connectivity that can affect specific song features.

    • Mark N. Miller
    • , Chung Yan J. Cheung
    •  & Michael S. Brainard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Intra- and interlimb coordination during locomotion is governed by hierarchically organized lumbar spinal networks. Here, the authors show that reversible silencing of spinal L2–L5 interneurons specifically disrupts hindlimb alternation leading to a continuum of walking to hopping.

    • Amanda M. Pocratsky
    • , Darlene A. Burke
    •  & David S. K. Magnuson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previous studies have shown short-term plasticity in single neurons or local field potentials during brain-machine interface (BMI) training. Here the authors report long-term changes in functional connectivity of motor cortex neuronal ensemble activity as chronically amputated monkeys learn to operate a BMI.

    • Karthikeyan Balasubramanian
    • , Mukta Vaidya
    •  & Nicholas G. Hatsopoulos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Basal ganglia can both facilitate or inhibit movement through excitatory and inhibitory pathways; however whether these opposing signals are dynamically regulated during behavior is not known. Here the authors use multinucleus LFP recordings and electrical microstimulation in monkeys performing saccade based tasks to show task specific changes in the tonic weighting of these pathways.

    • Jay J. Jantz
    • , Masayuki Watanabe
    •  & Douglas P. Munoz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) leads to selective loss of motor neurons. Using motor neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with ALS and FUS mutations, the authors demonstrate that axonal transport deficits that are observed in these cells can be rescued by HDAC6 inhibition.

    • Wenting Guo
    • , Maximilian Naujock
    •  & Ludo Van Den Bosch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) is thought to be involved in making somatomotor decisions. Chandrasekaran et al. investigated the temporal response dynamics of PMd neurons across cortical layers and show stronger and earlier decision-related responses in the superficial layers and more action execution-related signals in the deeper layers.

    • Chandramouli Chandrasekaran
    • , Diogo Peixoto
    •  & Krishna V. Shenoy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The developmental origin and functional organization of the brainstem breathing circuits are poorly understood. Here using virus-based circuit-mapping approaches in mice, the authors reveal the lineage, neurotransmitter phenotype, and connectivity patterns of phrenic premotor neurons, which are a crucial component of the inspiratory circuit.

    • Jinjin Wu
    • , Paolo Capelli
    •  & Gilles Fortin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) linearly encode whisker position but the precise circuit mechanisms that generate these signals are not well understood. Here the authors use patch clamp recordings to show that selective tuning of granule cell inputs and bidirectional tuning of interneuron inputs are required to generate the kinematic representations in PCs.

    • Susu Chen
    • , George J. Augustine
    •  & Paul Chadderton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Motor learning induces structural and functional reorganization in upper layers of motor cortex. Here the authors show that neuronal ensembles in the output layer 5b exhibit temporal dynamics during skilled learning that progressively becomes well-aligned to movement in a dopamine dependent manner.

    • Qian Li
    • , Ho Ko
    •  & Wing-Ho Yung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dystonia is thought to be driven by impairments in cerebellar signalling. The authors use a mouse genetic approach to silence excitatory transmission in the inferior olive to cerebellum pathway, resulting in dystonia-like signs in the animals which can be alleviated using DBS stimulation of the pathway.

    • Joshua J. White
    •  & Roy V. Sillitoe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is thought that, when goals are uncertain, actions are generated by averaging multiple possible movement plans. Here the authors show that movement planning under uncertainty instead varies flexibly depending on the speed of the movement in order to maximize success.

    • Aaron L. Wong
    •  & Adrian M. Haith

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Frontal eye fields (FEF) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are coactivated during cognitive tasks, but the precise format of their interaction is not known. Here the authors show that phase coupling between ACC -FEF in theta and beta frequency bands better predicts behavioural performance.

    • Sahand Babapoor-Farrokhran
    • , Martin Vinck
    •  & Stefan Everling

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The generation of vasculature in organs is regulated by cross-talk between the developing tissue and specialized endothelial cells. Here, the authors show that vessel growth feeding the zebrafish spinal cord is coordinated by balancing neuron-derived pro-angiogenic ligand Vegfaa and its receptor, sFlt1.

    • Raphael Wild
    • , Alina Klems
    •  & Ferdinand le Noble

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Brain machine interfaces (BMI) enable sensorimotor control of movement yet the parameters that may affect these pathways are not known. Here the authors show systematically that increasing the rate of control from brain as well as feedback rates to the subject results in better performance on a BMI task in monkeys.

    • Maryam M. Shanechi
    • , Amy L. Orsborn
    •  & Jose M. Carmena

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors combinein vivopatch-clamp recordings and optogenetics to show that balanced dendritic excitation and inhibition provides a sensitive ‘push-pull’ mechanism that generates the bidirectional modulation of Purkinje cell SSp output necessary for normal locomotor behaviour.

    • Marta Jelitai
    • , Paolo Puggioni
    •  & Ian Duguid

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) depend on algorithms to decode neural signals, but these decoders cope poorly with signal variability. Here, authors report a BMI decoder which circumvents these problems by using a large and perturbed training dataset to improve performance with variable neural signals.

    • David Sussillo
    • , Sergey D. Stavisky
    •  & Krishna V. Shenoy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single neuron responses are highly complex and dynamic yet they are able to flexibly represent behaviour through their collective activity. Here the authors demonstrate that population activity patterns of motor cortex neurons are orthogonal during successive task epochs that are linked through a simple linear function.

    • Gamaleldin F. Elsayed
    • , Antonio H. Lara
    •  & John P. Cunningham

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Decline in sensorimotor skills with age may be due to an overreliance on the prediction of the sensory consequences of one’s actions. Here the authors show that sensorimotor attenuation increases with age, and that this is associated with structural and functional changes in frontostriatal circuits.

    • Noham Wolpe
    • , James N. Ingram
    •  & James B. Rowe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutations in the protein LRRK2 have been associated with Parkinson's disease but little is still known about the basic functions of the protein in the brain. Here the authors show that in fruit flies, LRRK2 regulates retrograde homeostatic synaptic compensation at the larval neuromuscular junction.

    • Jay Penney
    • , Kazuya Tsurudome
    •  & A. Pejmun Haghighi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Complex motions can be achieved by chunking together simple movements at the cost of producing smooth, efficient trajectories. Here the authors apply a new algorithm to monkeys learning complex motor sequences and show that optimization initially occurs within small chunks that are later combined.

    • Pavan Ramkumar
    • , Daniel E. Acuna
    •  & Konrad P. Kording

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Imaging cellular activity in mouse spinal cord has been historically difficult. Here the authors develop cellular resolution fluorescence imaging approaches in the spinal cord of behaving mice, and report distinct activity patterns of neurons and astrocytes in response to different sensory inputs.

    • Kohei J. Sekiguchi
    • , Pavel Shekhtmeyster
    •  & Axel Nimmerjahn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Surprising events affect ongoing behaviour and cognitive processing, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Wessel and colleagues show that surprise recruits a motor suppression mechanism which may be implemented via the sub-thalamic nucleus and interrupts working memory performance.

    • Jan R. Wessel
    • , Ned Jenkinson
    •  & Adam R. Aron

  • Article
    | Open Access

    CSF-contacting neurons are known to project to locomotor CPGs although their relevance to active locomotion is unclear. Here, the authors show that these cells constitute a mechanosensory organ relying on PKD2L1 channels to detect spinal cord curvature and modulate locomotor frequency in freely moving animals.

    • Urs Lucas Böhm
    • , Andrew Prendergast
    •  & Claire Wyart

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cerebrospinal fluid-contacting (CSF-c) cells line the central canal of the vertebrate spinal cord yet their function remains unknown. Here, Javaland et al. show that CSF-c neurons in the lamprey respond to mechanical stimulation and lowered pH, effects likely mediated by ASIC3-channels.

    • Elham Jalalvand
    • , Brita Robertson
    •  & Sten Grillner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A key pathological alteration after brain and spinal cord injury is the disruption of the corticospinal tract (CST) axons that control the voluntary movements. Here the authors show that activating the intrinsic regenerative ability by inhibiting PTEN and SOCS3 expression promotes robust sprouting growth and recovery of skilled locomotion after injury.

    • Duo Jin
    • , Yuanyuan Liu
    •  & Zhigang He

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In online experiments with monkeys the authors demonstrate, for the first time, that incorporating neural dynamics substantially improves brain–machine interface performance. This result is consistent with a framework hypothesizing that motor cortex is a dynamical machine that generates movement.

    • Jonathan C. Kao
    • , Paul Nuyujukian
    •  & Krishna V. Shenoy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutated tRNA synthetases can incorporate non-canonical amino acids into proteins. Erdmann et al. exploit this property to metabolically label newly synthesized proteins in selected cell types in Drosophila, and demonstrate their detection using proteomics (BONCAT) and fluorescence imaging (FUNCAT).

    • Ines Erdmann
    • , Kathrin Marter
    •  & Daniela C. Dieterich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Several prominent cognitive theories propose that in situations affording more than one action strategy, the brain prepares multiple competing movements prior to selecting one. Here the authors provide direct experimental evidence for this provocative but largely untested notion.

    • Jason P. Gallivan
    • , Kathryn S. Barton
    •  & J. Randall Flanagan

  • Article |

    Perception of mechanical tension is important for coordinated locomotion, and in Drosophila, mutations in stretch-sensitive TRPV channels grossly impair locomotor behaviour. Akitake et al. show that the Drosophila TRPC channel TRPγis, in contrast, specifically required for fine motor control.

    • Bradley Akitake
    • , Qiuting Ren
    •  & Craig Montell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aggregate signals in cortex are spatiotemporally organized as propagating waves across the cortical surface. Here the authors demonstrate that neurons in primary motor cortex of monkeys spatially coordinate their spiking activity in a manner that closely matches wave propagation.

    • Kazutaka Takahashi
    • , Sanggyun Kim
    •  & Nicholas G. Hatsopoulos

  • Article |

    During vertebrate embryogenesis, migration of neuronal cell bodies and axons occurs simultaneously, but to what degree they influence each other’s development remains unclear. Here the authors find that in the mouse spinal cord commissural axons influence neuronal migration in two different ways.

    • Christophe Laumonnerie
    • , Yong Guang Tong
    •  & Sara I. Wilson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The differentiation of spinal motor neurons (MNs) from mouse and human embryonic stem cells provides opportunities to model MN development and disease, but most protocols produce only a subset of the MN subtypes found in vivo. Here the authors show that limb projecting lateral motor column MNs can be efficiently generated though the expression of Foxp1.

    • Katrina L. Adams
    • , David L. Rousso
    •  & Bennett G. Novitch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Motor learning is characterized by diverse cognitive processes, which lack a unified theoretical framework. Here, Takiyama et al.present a model demonstrating that motor learning is determined by prospective errors, which they test in a specially designed visuomotor adaptation task.

    • Ken Takiyama
    • , Masaya Hirashima
    •  & Daichi Nozaki

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