Noradrenaline mediates the bidirectional modulation of motor cortex output during motor behaviour
| Dates: | 23 June 2015 |
|---|
| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
|---|
| What is it: | Seminar |
|---|
| Organiser: | Faculty of Life Sciences |
|---|
| Speaker: | Julia Schiemann |
|---|
|
|
This seminar is part of the Future Leaders Series, showcasing the best early-career researchers working the fields of sensory and computational neuroscience. Abstract: Neuronal activity in primary motor cortex (M1) correlates with behavioural state, but the cellular mechanisms underpinning behavioural state-dependent modulation of M1 output remain largely unresolved. Here we performed in vivo patch-clamp recordings from layer 5B (L5B) pyramidal neurons in awake mice during quiet wakefulness and self-paced, voluntary movement. We show that L5B output neurons display bidirectional (i.e. enhanced or suppressed) firing rate changes during movement, mediated via two opposing subthreshold mechanisms: 1) a global decrease in membrane potential variability that reduced L5B firing rates (L5Bsuppressed neurons); and 2) a coincident noradrenaline-mediated increase in excitatory drive to a subpopulation of L5B neurons (L5Benhanced neurons) that elevated firing rates. Blocking noradrenergic receptors in forelimb M1 abolished the bidirectional modulation of M1 output during movement and selectively impaired contralateral forelimb motor coordination. Together, our results provide a mechanism for how noradrenergic neuromodulation and network-driven input changes bidirectionally modulate M1 output during motor behaviour.
Host: Mark Humphries
Speaker
Julia Schiemann
Organisation: University of Edinburgh
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
4.005
AV Hill Building
Manchester
