Engagement of the Rat Hindlimb Motor Cortex across Natural Locomotor Behaviors.
Jack DiGiovannaNadia DominiciLucia FriedliJacopo RigosaSimone DuisJulie KreiderJanine BeauparlantRubia van den BrandMarco SchieppatiSilvestro MiceraGrégoire CourtinePublished in: The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience (2017)
We mapped the neuronal population responses in the hindlimb motor cortex to hindlimb kinematics and hindlimb muscle synergies across a spectrum of natural locomotion behaviors. Robust task-specific neuronal population responses revealed that the rat motor cortex displays similar modulation as other mammals during locomotion. However, the reduced motor cortex activity during more automated behaviors suggests a relationship between the degree of engagement and task complexity. This relationship emphasizes the importance of the behavioral procedure to engage the motor cortex during motor control studies, gait rehabilitation, and locomotor neuroprosthetic developments in rats.