Get moving

1.Isomura, Y., Harukuni, R., Takekawa, T., Aizawa, H. & Fukai, T. Microcircuitry coordination of cortical information in self-initiation of voluntary movements. Nature Neuroscience 12, 1586–1593 (2009). Using a novel technique to record the electrical activity of multiple nerve cells in moving animals, RIKEN researchers have clarified how the brain controls self-initiated voluntary movements. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience1, reveal the dynamic properties of small networks of neurons, and show that movements are controlled by the co-ordinated activity of distinct groups of at least two different types of cell. Voluntary movements are controlled by the primary motor cortex, which is subdivided into five or six layers, each containing distinct populations of pyramidal cells that are presumably activated at different times during the preparation, initiation and execution phases of a movement. The dynamics of these groups of cells is, however, poorly understood. Each layer also contains diverse populations of interneurons, the most abundant being fast-spiking (FS) interneurons, which are thought to regulate the output of the motor cortex by inhibiting the activity of pyramidal cells.

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