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A prefrontal motor circuit initiates persistent movement.

Yihan Wang | Qian-Quan Sun
Nature communications | 2024

Persistence reinforces continuous action, which benefits animals in many aspects. Diverse external or internal signals may trigger animals to start a persistent movement. However, it is unclear how the brain decides to persist with current actions by selecting specific information. Using single-unit extracellular recordings and opto-tagging in awake mice, we demonstrated that a group of dorsal mPFC (dmPFC) motor cortex projecting (MP) neurons initiate a persistent movement by selectively encoding contextual information rather than natural valence. Inactivation of dmPFC MP neurons impairs the initiation and reduces neuronal activity in the insular and motor cortex. After the persistent movement is initiated, the dmPFC MP neurons are not required to maintain it. Finally, a computational model suggests that a successive sensory stimulus acts as an input signal for the dmPFC MP neurons to initiate a persistent movement. These results reveal a neural initiation mechanism on the persistent movement.

Pubmed ID: 38898065 RIS Download

Associated grants

  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P20 GM121310
  • Agency: NIMH NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R21 MH131363
  • Agency: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH),
    Id: 1R21MH131363-01
  • Agency: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS),
    Id: 2P20GM121310

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