Spinal neurons play a crucial role in generating voluntary limb movements, but since they have been studied primarily in anesthetized animals, little is known about their activity during normal movements. Moreover, they usually have been characterized with respect to reflex activation, so nothing is known about their possible role in movement preparation. We evaluated the extent to which spinal interneurons (INs) are engaged in preparation for voluntary movement by characterizing their responses in an instructed delay task. Two macaques were trained to control a cursor position by isometric flexion/extension torques about the wrist. Trials included a rest period, an instructed delay period, and an active torque hold period. Activity of isolated C6-T1 INs was recorded with one or two electrodes. The average firing rates of 123/394 INs showed significant delay period modulation (SDM) relative to rest (paired t-test, p<0.05). SDM was never accompanied by any detectable mus cle activity. Activity of 90% of INs with SDM was also modulated for active torques. Firing rates during the delay and torque periods were modulated in the opposite direction (i.e., increase vs. decrease) for 39% of INs with SDM. Firing rate decreased during the delay period for 61% of INs with SDM. INs exhibited SDM either during flexion trials only (n=39), extension trials only (n=54) or both (n=30). The latter group showed similar rate changes for pre-flexion and pre-extension delay periods (r =.89). These results indicate that preparation for movement involves extensive modulation of spinal interneurons that cannot be predicted from their responses during active movement. Thus, spinal circuitry, like cerebral cortex, is involved in the earliest stages of movement preparation, suggesting widely distributed, parallel processing of set-related activity. FUNDING NIH grants RR00166 and NS12542. Perlmutter, S., Maier, M., and Fetz, E.E. Activity and output linkages of spinal premotor interneurons during voluntary wrist movements in the monkey. J. Neurophysiol. 80 2475- 2494, 1998. Maier, M., Perlmutter, S. and Fetz, E.E. Response patterns and force relations of monkey spinal interneurons during active wrist movement. J. Neurophysiol. 80 2495-2530, 1998. Fetz, E.E., Smith, W., Prut, Y., Maier, M. and Perlmutter, S.I. Neuronal interactions in primate sensorimotor cortex and spinal cord during voluntary movements. Eur. J. Neurosci. 10 433, 1998 Prut, Y., Perlmutter, S.I. and Fetz, E.E. Activity of spinal interneurons during premovement delay period in primates. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 24 918, 1998. Kawashima, T., Knight, T.A. and Fetz, E.E. Interhemispheric synchronization of neuronal and field potential activity during bimanual movements of monkeys. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 24 403, 1998. Fetz, E.E. Dynamic activities in neuronal populations of primate sensorimotor cortex. Proc. Third Riken-Tamagawa International Dynamic Brain Forum., p. 8, 1998.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
Type
Primate Research Center Grants (P51)
Project #
5P51RR000166-39
Application #
6316727
Study Section
Project Start
1976-06-01
Project End
2002-04-30
Budget Start
1998-10-01
Budget End
1999-09-30
Support Year
39
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$105,178
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Type
DUNS #
135646524
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
Pham, Amelie; Carrasco, Marisa; Kiorpes, Lynne (2018) Endogenous attention improves perception in amblyopic macaques. J Vis 18:11
Zanos, Stavros; Rembado, Irene; Chen, Daofen et al. (2018) Phase-Locked Stimulation during Cortical Beta Oscillations Produces Bidirectional Synaptic Plasticity in Awake Monkeys. Curr Biol 28:2515-2526.e4
Choi, Hannah; Pasupathy, Anitha; Shea-Brown, Eric (2018) Predictive Coding in Area V4: Dynamic Shape Discrimination under Partial Occlusion. Neural Comput 30:1209-1257
Shushruth, S; Mazurek, Mark; Shadlen, Michael N (2018) Comparison of Decision-Related Signals in Sensory and Motor Preparatory Responses of Neurons in Area LIP. J Neurosci 38:6350-6365
Raghanti, Mary Ann; Edler, Melissa K; Stephenson, Alexa R et al. (2018) A neurochemical hypothesis for the origin of hominids. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:E1108-E1116
Wool, Lauren E; Crook, Joanna D; Troy, John B et al. (2018) Nonselective Wiring Accounts for Red-Green Opponency in Midget Ganglion Cells of the Primate Retina. J Neurosci 38:1520-1540
Hasegawa, Yu; Curtis, Britni; Yutuc, Vernon et al. (2018) Microbial structure and function in infant and juvenile rhesus macaques are primarily affected by age, not vaccination status. Sci Rep 8:15867
Oleskiw, Timothy D; Nowack, Amy; Pasupathy, Anitha (2018) Joint coding of shape and blur in area V4. Nat Commun 9:466
Balakrishnan, Ashwini; Goodpaster, Tracy; Randolph-Habecker, Julie et al. (2017) Analysis of ROR1 Protein Expression in Human Cancer and Normal Tissues. Clin Cancer Res 23:3061-3071
Shooner, Christopher; Hallum, Luke E; Kumbhani, Romesh D et al. (2017) Asymmetric Dichoptic Masking in Visual Cortex of Amblyopic Macaque Monkeys. J Neurosci 37:8734-8741

Showing the most recent 10 out of 320 publications