scholarly journals Manifold reaching paradigm: how do we handle target redundancy?

2011 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 2086-2102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastien Berret ◽  
Enrico Chiovetto ◽  
Francesco Nori ◽  
Thierry Pozzo

How the central nervous system coordinates the many intrinsic degrees of freedom of the musculoskeletal system is a recurrent question in motor control. Numerous studies addressed it by considering redundant reaching tasks such as point-to-point arm movements, for which many joint trajectories and muscle activations are usually compatible with a single goal. There exists, however, a different, extrinsic kind of redundancy that is target redundancy. Many times, indeed, the final point to reach is neither specified nor unique. In this study, we aim to understand how the central nervous system tackles such an extrinsic redundancy by considering a reaching-to-a-manifold paradigm, more specifically an arm pointing to a long vertical bar. In this case, the endpoint is not defined a priori and, therefore, subjects are free to choose any point on the bar to successfully achieve the task. We investigated the strategies used by subjects to handle this presented choice. Our results indicate both intersubject and intertrial consistency with respect to the freedom provided by the task. However, the subjects' behavior is found to be more variable than during classical point-to-point reaches. Interestingly, the average arm trajectories to the bar and the structure of intertrial endpoint variations could be explained via stochastic optimal control with an energy/smoothness expected cost and signal-dependent motor noise. We conclude that target redundancy is first overcome during movement planning and then exploited during movement execution, in agreement with stochastic optimal feedback control principles, which illustrates how the complementary problems of goal and movement selection may be resolved at once.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiano Alessando ◽  
Benjamin A. Rellinger ◽  
Filipe O. Barroso ◽  
Matthew C. Tresch

AbstractIn order to produce movements, muscles must act through joints. The translation from muscle force to limb movement is mediated by internal joint structures that permit movement in some directions but constrain it in others. Although muscle forces acting against constrained directions will not affect limb movements, such forces can cause excess stresses and strains in joint structures, leading to pain or injury. In this study, we hypothesized that the central nervous system (CNS) chooses muscle activations to avoid excess joint stresses and strains. We evaluated this hypothesis by examining adaptation strategies after selective paralysis of a muscle acting at the rat knee. We show that the CNS compromises between restoration of task performance and regulation of joint stresses and strains. These results have significant implications to our understanding of the neural control of movements, suggesting that common theories emphasizing task performance are insufficient to explain muscle activations during behaviors.


2011 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 620-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémie Gaveau ◽  
Christos Paizis ◽  
Bastien Berret ◽  
Thierry Pozzo ◽  
Charalambos Papaxanthis

After an exposure to weightlessness, the central nervous system operates under new dynamic and sensory contexts. To find optimal solutions for rapid adaptation, cosmonauts have to decide whether parameters from the world or their body have changed and to estimate their properties. Here, we investigated sensorimotor adaptation after a spaceflight of 10 days. Five cosmonauts performed forward point-to-point arm movements in the sagittal plane 40 days before and 24 and 72 h after the spaceflight. We found that, whereas the shape of hand velocity profiles remained unaffected after the spaceflight, hand path curvature significantly increased 1 day after landing and returned to the preflight level on the third day. Control experiments, carried out by 10 subjects under normal gravity conditions, showed that loading the arm with varying loads (from 0.3 to 1.350 kg) did not affect path curvature. Therefore, changes in path curvature after spaceflight cannot be the outcome of a control process based on the subjective feeling that arm inertia was increased. By performing optimal control simulations, we found that arm kinematics after exposure to microgravity corresponded to a planning process that overestimated the gravity level and optimized movements in a hypergravity environment (∼1.4 g). With time and practice, the sensorimotor system was recalibrated to Earth's gravity conditions, and cosmonauts progressively generated accurate estimations of the body state, gravity level, and sensory consequences of the motor commands (72 h). These observations provide novel insights into how the central nervous system evaluates body (inertia) and environmental (gravity) states during sensorimotor adaptation of point-to-point arm movements after an exposure to weightlessness.


1998 ◽  
Vol 275 (2) ◽  
pp. R612-R618
Author(s):  
Teresa M. Reyes ◽  
Christopher L. Coe

The ability of both exogenous and endogenous glucocorticoids (GCs) to inhibit proinflammatory cytokine production was investigated in vivo. Specifically, we investigated the effects of elevated GC levels on interleukin (IL)-1-induced release of IL-6 into both blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Three experiments were conducted in rhesus macaques to elevate corticoid levels for at least 4 h before administration of IL-1β. The first study used dexamethasone pretreatment, the second utilized ACTH to stimulate endogenous cortisol release, while the third relied on a psychological challenge to stimulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Contrary to our a priori predictions, none of these treatments attenuated the IL-1-induced release of IL-6 into CSF. Additionally, the pattern in the blood response was similar, such that the IL-6 response was not blocked, although there was a trend toward a reduction of this response. These data indicated that the IL-1-induced IL-6 response is for the most part resistant to corticosteroid influence, such that even when a partial inhibition was sometimes evident in blood, cytokine release in the central nervous system was not affected.


eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiano Alessandro ◽  
Benjamin A Rellinger ◽  
Filipe Oliveira Barroso ◽  
Matthew C Tresch

In order to produce movements, muscles must act through joints. The translation from muscle force to limb movement is mediated by internal joint structures that permit movement in some directions but constrain it in others. Although muscle forces acting against constrained directions will not affect limb movements, such forces can cause excess stresses and strains in joint structures, leading to pain or injury. In this study, we hypothesized that the central nervous system (CNS) chooses muscle activations to avoid excessive joint stresses and strains. We evaluated this hypothesis by examining adaptation strategies after selective paralysis of a muscle acting at the rat’s knee. We show that the CNS compromises between restoration of task performance and regulation of joint stresses and strains. These results have significant implications to our understanding of the neural control of movements, suggesting that common theories emphasizing task performance are insufficient to explain muscle activations during behaviors.


1981 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 1255-1262 ◽  
Author(s):  
R M Lechan ◽  
J L Nestler ◽  
S Jacobson

Immunohistochemical localization of retrogradely transported wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) is proposed as a sensitive histochemical technique to identify point to point connections within regions of the central nervous system. Injections of WGA into the median eminence of the hypothalamus and the caudate-putamen complex, respectively, were performed to illustrate that this material is rapidly transported over long distances and accumulates within the cytoplasm of neuronal perikarya and their processes. The applicability of this technique to identification of a second antigen within immunoreactive-WGA-labeled neurons is also demonstrated by sequential immunostaining of tyrosine hydroxylase within dopamine-containing cells of the mesencephalon, ipsilateral to an injection in the caudate-putamen complex. This technique is of use in characterizing bioaminergic neurons in the central nervous system and may also be of use in characterizing peptidergic neurons.


Author(s):  
Gladys Harrison

With the advent of the space age and the need to determine the requirements for a space cabin atmosphere, oxygen effects came into increased importance, even though these effects have been the subject of continuous research for many years. In fact, Priestly initiated oxygen research when in 1775 he published his results of isolating oxygen and described the effects of breathing it on himself and two mice, the only creatures to have had the “privilege” of breathing this “pure air”.Early studies had demonstrated the central nervous system effects at pressures above one atmosphere. Light microscopy revealed extensive damage to the lungs at one atmosphere. These changes which included perivascular and peribronchial edema, focal hemorrhage, rupture of the alveolar septa, and widespread edema, resulted in death of the animal in less than one week. The severity of the symptoms differed between species and was age dependent, with young animals being more resistant.


Author(s):  
John L.Beggs ◽  
John D. Waggener ◽  
Wanda Miller ◽  
Jane Watkins

Studies using mesenteric and ear chamber preparations have shown that interendothelial junctions provide the route for neutrophil emigration during inflammation. The term emigration refers to the passage of white blood cells across the endothelium from the vascular lumen. Although the precise pathway of transendo- thelial emigration in the central nervous system (CNS) has not been resolved, the presence of different physiological and morphological (tight junctions) properties of CNS endothelium may dictate alternate emigration pathways.To study neutrophil emigration in the CNS, we induced meningitis in guinea pigs by intracisternal injection of E. coli bacteria.In this model, leptomeningeal inflammation is well developed by 3 hr. After 3 1/2 hr, animals were sacrificed by arterial perfusion with 3% phosphate buffered glutaraldehyde. Tissues from brain and spinal cord were post-fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide, dehydrated in alcohols and propylene oxide, and embedded in Epon. Thin serial sections were cut with diamond knives and examined in a Philips 300 electron microscope.


Author(s):  
Ezzatollah Keyhani

Acetylcholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.7) (ACHE) has been localized at cholinergic junctions both in the central nervous system and at the periphery and it functions in neurotransmission. ACHE was also found in other tissues without involvement in neurotransmission, but exhibiting the common property of transporting water and ions. This communication describes intracellular ACHE in mammalian bone marrow and its secretion into the extracellular medium.


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