Project number:
703
Project title:
The cellular bases of goal directed motor behaviour in a model system
Project supervisor:
Sten Grillner
Project description:
The neural basis of locomotion in terms of pattern generation, intersegmental coordination, equilibrium control and initiation of behaviour from brainstem command centres and steering is known to considerable degree in one vertebrate model system that of the lamprey (Grillner 2003, Nature Rev. Neurosci.). The next step in the analyses is to analyse how these different motor control systems are activated in a functional context and selected during normal behaviour and how the activity is integrated into goal directed locomotor behaviour. In this context the visuomotor control in terms of eye and neck orienting responses provide important control signals related to goal directed steering. Tectum (superior colliculus) is of central importance for the orienting response and different macroregions within tectum elicit orienting responses with different directions and amplitudes (eye, neck).
The current project aims at exploring how the interaction between the output cells of the basal ganglia and the input to the different sites in tectum. Most likely the orienting movements are caused by a disinhibition of the output neurones of tectum in the specific microregion explored. This should be matched with the retinotopic input from retina and the output to the midbrain structures that elicit vertical and horizontal orientation movements and also initiate locomotor activity. This will require analyses of neuronal activity in semiintact preparations in which orienting and locomotor activity can be initiated. Furthermore, neuronal activity in the basal ganglia output level and the different visuomotor structures will be recorded with multiple electrodes combined with neuropharmacological and immunohistochemical techniques. Modelling studies will also be an important tool in this analysis.
Possible cortex partners for rotation:
The collaboration is planned with the Kaila laboratory in Helsinki.
Eva Sykova
The cortex Partners: Berlin, Bochum,
Helsinki, London, Oslo,
Prague, Stockholm, Zurich
