Reticulospinal Function in Health and Recovery from Lesion

当我们移动时，大脑通过许多不同的路径向脊髓发送命令。然后，脊髓内的神经回路解释这些命令来激活肌肉，并产生所需的运动。两条非常重要的通路被称为皮质脊髓束(CST)和网状脊髓束(RST)。在人类等灵长类动物中，CST在控制运动方面似乎比低等物种更重要，这导致了相当多的研究集中在它上面。相比之下，我们对RST的了解要少得多。通过RST发送哪些命令？他们怎么样？念出来了吗？被脊髓刺死？这与科技委有何不同？这些都是这个项目试图解决的问题。我们将记录受训执行伸展和抓取任务的猴子大脑皮层(CST的起源)、网状结构(RST的起源)和脊髓中单个神经细胞的电活动。使用现代方法，我们将能够详细描述这些不同的中心如何合作控制自愿运动。虽然这些信息本身很重要，如果我们要了解大脑，它也与了解疾病高度相关。中风或脊髓损伤等情况可能会中断连接大脑和脊髓的通路。在这种损害之后的几个月里，大多数患者都出现了一些康复。幸存的路径可能会重新配置，以接管一些通常由受损路径执行的功能。在这个项目的第二部分，我们将中断猴子一侧大脑的CST，并等待它们恢复。然后，我们将重复在健康动物身上进行的单个神经细胞记录。通过这种方式，我们将能够准确地确定RST是如何连接的，以及脊髓如何对它们做出反应，从而使动物得以恢复。了解这一过程的细节将使我们对功能恢复有新的认识。我们所获得的知识可能会为康复提供更好的策略，让医生和理疗师与大脑合作？S自己的康复过程，以达到更好的结果。

When we move, the brain sends commands to the spinal cord via a number of separate pathways. Neural circuits within the spinal cord then interpret these commands to activate muscles, and generate the required movements. Two very important pathways are called the corticospinal tract (CST) and the reticulospinal tract (RST). In primates such as man, the CST appears to be more important in controlling movement than in lower species, and this has led to considerable research concentrating on it. By contrast, we know much less about the RST. What commands are sent via the RST? How are they ?read out? by the spinal cord? How does this differ from the CST? These are the questions that this project seeks to address.We will make recordings of the electrical activity of single nerve cells in the cerebral cortex (origin of the CST), reticular formation (origin of the RST), and spinal cord, in monkeys trained to perform a reach and grasp task. Using modern methods, we will be able to characterise in detail how these different centres cooperate to control a voluntary movement.Whilst this information is important in itself if we are to understand the brain, it is also highly relevant to understanding disease. Conditions such as stroke, or spinal cord injury, can interrupt the pathways linking brain and spinal cord. In the months following such damage, most patients show some recovery. It is likely that surviving pathways reconfigure to take over some of the function which is normally performed by the damaged pathways. In the second part of this project, we will interrupt the CST on one side of the brain in monkeys, and wait for them to recover. We will then repeat the single nerve cell recordings carried out in the healthy animals. In this way, we will be able to determine precisely how the RST connections, and the spinal cord?s response to them, change to allow the animal to recover. Understanding this process in its fine details will give us new insights into functional recovery. The knowledge which we gain may suggest better strategies for rehabilitation, allowing doctors and physiotherapists to work with the brain?s own recovery processes to achieve better outcomes.