Neural circuits underlying the acquisition and control of motor skills

运动技能习得和控制的神经回路 我们的许多行为技能都是由习得的运动技能组成的，但对神经却知之甚少 作为他们获得和执行的基础的机制。我们最近发现，运动皮质 学习所必需的，但不是执行某些运动技能所必需的，暗示是自主的皮质下运动 能够生成特定于任务的学习电机序列的网络。重要的是，运动皮质似乎 在学习过程中参与“辅导”这一皮质下网络。 在这里，我们将首先探索基底神经节的作用，它是与运动相关的中脑核团的集合 在存储和执行复杂任务特定的运动序列方面具有重要的临床意义。具体来说， 我们将测试基底神经节接受运动皮质输入的部分，背外侧 纹状体(DLS)本质上参与了我们训练的技能的产生。我们将通过授权DLS的方式来实现这一点 以及动物基底神经节的其他部分，这些动物已经学会了掌握我们训练的任务(目标1)。我们会 进一步分析纹状体是如何编码学习到的运动序列的，特别是测试假设 它对学习的电机序列的详细结构和运动学进行编码(目标2)。最后，我们将测试 认为运动皮质在学习过程中通过其向大脑皮质下运动回路的投射“指导”皮质下运动回路。 基底节(目标3)。我们将使用一个全自动的啮齿动物训练系统来探索这些问题 与连续记录数周神经活动和行为的装置相结合而开发的 以及几个月的自由行为的啮齿动物。 解决我们建议的目标将澄清哺乳动物运动系统如何获得 并控制特定任务的运动序列，并描绘出BG和皮质纹状体通路在 这些重要的过程，从而解决了神经科学中的基本问题，具有深远的意义 对临床实践和神经康复的影响。

Neural circuits underlying the acquisition and control of motor skills Much of our behavioral repertoire consists of learned motor skills, yet little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie their acquisition and execution. We have recently discovered that motor cortex is required for learning but not for executing certain motor skills, suggesting an autonomous subcortical motor network capable of generating task-specific learned motor sequences. Importantly, motor cortex seems to be involved in ‘tutoring’ this subcortical network during learning. Here we will first explore the role of the basal ganglia, a collection of motor-related midbrain nuclei of great clinical significance, in the storage and execution of complex task-specific motor sequences. Specifically, we will test whether the part of the basal ganglia that receives input from motor cortex, the dorsolateral striatum (DLS), is essentially involved in producing the skills we train. We will do this by way of lesioning DLS and other parts of the basal ganglia in animals that have learned to master the task we train (Aim 1). We will further analyze how the striatum encodes the learned motor sequences, specifically testing the hypothesis that it encodes the detailed structure and kinematics of learned motor sequences (Aim 2). Lastly, we will test the idea that motor cortex is ‘tutoring’ the subcortical motor circuits during learning through its projections to the basal ganglia (Aim 3). We will explore these questions using a fully automated rodent training system we developed, in combination with a set-up for recording neural activity and behavior continuously over weeks and months in freely behaving rodents. Addressing the aims of our proposal will clarify the logic of how the mammalian motor system acquires and controls task-specific motor sequences, and delineate the roles of the BG and the corticostriatal pathway in these important processes, thus addressing fundamental questions in neuroscience with far-reaching implications for clinical practice and neurorehabilitation.