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Excitatory rubral cells encode the acquisition of novel complex motor tasks
Journal
Nature communications
Volume
10
Number
1
Pages / Article-Number
2241
Mesh terms
Animals; Learning, physiology; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Transgenic; Models, Animal; Motor Activity, physiology; Neuronal Plasticity, physiology; Neurons, physiology; Parvalbumins, metabolism; Red Nucleus, cytology, physiology; Synaptic Transmission, physiology; Vesicular Glutamate Transport Protein 2, genetics, metabolism
Abstract
The red nucleus (RN) is required for limb control, specifically fine motor coordination. There is some evidence for a role of the RN in reaching and grasping, mainly from lesion studies, but results so far have been inconsistent. In addition, the role of RN neurons in such learned motor functions at the level of synaptic transmission has been largely neglected. Here, we show that Vglut2-expressing RN neurons undergo plastic events and encode the optimization of fine movements. RN light-ablation severely impairs reaching and grasping functions while sparing general locomotion. We identify a neuronal population co-expressing Vglut2, PV and C1QL2, which specifically undergoes training-dependent plasticity. Selective chemo-genetic inhibition of these neurons perturbs reaching and grasping skills. Our study highlights the role of the Vglut2-positive rubral population in complex fine motor tasks, with its related plasticity representing an important starting point for the investigation of mechanistic substrates of fine motor coordination training.
