Cellular and molecular mechanisms of motor skill learning

有各种各样的习得动作，比如系鞋带、用铅笔写字、骑自行车和开车，这些都会让我们的生活更有效率。当我们学习一个新的动作时，我们会全神贯注地执行它；但在重复它之后，这个动作几乎是自动的。尽管运动学习对大多数行为的表现都很重要，但关于大脑如何编码熟练的运动，以及年龄如何影响这种能力，人们知之甚少。例如，虽然随着年龄的增长，运动记忆会得到保留，但获得新运动技能的能力明显较慢。作为魁北克-里维埃雷大学化学-生物系的新任命教授，我有兴趣扩大我们对控制在学习运动任务过程中发生的塑料变化的性质和动力学的机制的理解。我之前在杜克大学(Duke University)博士后培训期间完成的一项工作提出了一个有趣的可能性，即已知与记忆过程有关的分子，如突触相关蛋白的成员，可能也在运动技能学习中发挥作用。本研究计划将研究(1)突触密度和(2)不同年龄小鼠在运动技能学习过程中脑内候选突触相关蛋白的表达水平。此外，(3)我们将使用一种强大的现代技术-DNA微阵列分析来描绘与这种情况有关的特定基因。由于突触有超过1000个蛋白质组分，更好地了解这些蛋白质的相互作用、组织和功能将导致对突触在运动行为的控制和学习中的作用以及整个神经生理学的全球视角。

There are a variety of learned actions, such as lacing shoes, writing words with a pencil, riding a bicycle and driving a car that make our lives more efficient. When we learn a new action, we pay full attention to carrying it out; but after repeating it, the action becomes nearly automatic. Despite the significance of motor learning for the performance of most behaviors, little is known as to how skilled movement is encoded by the brain and how aging is affecting this ability. For instance, whereas motor memory is preserved with advanced age, the ability to acquire new motor skills is significantly slower. As a new appointed professor in the department of Chemistry-Biology at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, I am interested to expand our understanding on the mechanisms regulating the nature and dynamics of the plastic changes occurring during the learning of a motor task. One aspect of my previous work completed during a post-doctoral training at Duke University (NC) has raised the interesting possibility that molecules known to be implicated on memory processes, such as members of the synaptic-associated proteins, might also play a role in motor skill learning. This research program will investigate (1) the synaptic densities and (2) the expression levels of candidate synapse-associated proteins in the brain of mice at different age during motor skill learning. In addition, (3) we will delineate the specific genes implicated in this condition using a robust modern technique, the DNA microarray analysis. As synapses have over 1000 protein components, a better understanding of these protein interactions, organization and functions will lead to a global view of the role of synapses in the control and the learning of motor behaviors, and neurophysiology in general.