Paper 22: Experimental Studies on the Role of the Basal Ganglia in the Control of Movement

1968 ◽  
Vol 183 (10) ◽  
pp. 126-134
Author(s):  
E. M. Sedgwick
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Caudate Nucleus ◽  
Reticular Formation ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Inferior Olive ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Influence Activity

When the basal ganglia are damaged by disease processes in man, various disorders of movement occur. In order to control movement the basal ganglia must have a sensory input and in the absence of direct connections to motoneurones or motor cortex they must act through intermediate structures. The experiments, on cats, demonstrate: (1) which sensory inputs reach the caudate nucleus and how they influence activity of the neurones there; (2) the effect of the output from the caudate nucleus and globus pallidus on the neurones of the inferior olive and reticular formation. The results are discussed with respect to the control of movement.

scholarly journals Superior Colliculus Control of Vibrissa Movements

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 1245-1254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie E. Hemelt ◽  
Asaf Keller
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Field Potential ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Set Point ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Mystacial Vibrissae ◽  
Stimulation Of

This study tested the role of the superior colliculus in generating movements of the mystacial vibrissae—whisking. First, we compared the kinematics of whisking generated by the superior colliculus with those generated by the motor cortex. We found that in anesthetized rats, microstimulation of the colliculus evoked a sustained vibrissa protraction, whereas stimulation of motor cortex produced rhythmic protractions. Movements generated by the superior colliculus are independent of motor cortex and can be evoked at lower thresholds and shorter latencies than those generated by the motor cortex. Next we tested the hypothesis that the colliculus is acting as a simple reflex loop with the neurons that drive vibrissa movement receiving sensory input evoked by vibrissa contacts. We found that most tecto-facial neurons do not receive sensory input. Not only did these neurons not spike in response to sensory stimulation, but field potential analysis revealed that subthreshold sensory inputs do not overlap spatially with tecto-facial neurons. Together these findings suggest that the superior colliculus plays a pivotal role in vibrissa movement—regulating vibrissa set point and whisk amplitude—but does not function as a simple reflex loop. With the motor cortex controlling the whisking frequency, the superior colliculus control of set point and amplitude would account for the main parameters of voluntary whisking.

Specific Interventions and the Role of Occupational Therapy on Children With ASD

2022 ◽  
pp. 165-179
Author(s):  
Silvia-Raluca Matei ◽  
Damian Mircea Totolan ◽  
Claudia Salceanu
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Attention Span ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Sensory Activities

Occupational therapy focuses on children's sensory processing and modulation. This chapter approaches specific interventions on children with ASD from several perspectives. OT is based on sensory integrative approach when working with children with ASD: helping parents understand their child's behavior, helping children organize responses to sensory input. The sensory integrative approach is a formulated activity plan that helps people who haven't been able to develop their own sensory recognition program. This plan allows a child to integrate all sorts of different sensory activities in their day so they can engage in and begin to work with a wide variety of sensory inputs. This provides a wide number of benefits. Their focus and attention span increases because they won't have meltdowns from trying to process too much information; sensory integrative approach helps to rebuild/reform the child's nervous system. This allows them to physically handle more sensory input. As a result, OT has been proven effective in working with children with ASD.

scholarly journals The Role of the Caudate in Nonmotor Behaviors in Huntington’s Disease

1992 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Jacobs ◽  
S. J. Huber
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Caudate Nucleus ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Limbic Structures ◽  
Psychiatric Disturbances ◽  
Behavioral Impairments

Neuropsychologic data suggest an important role for the caudate nucleus (CN) in behavioral impairments in Huntington's disease (HD). These include abnormalities in executive function, egocentric visuospatial representations, communication, and retrieval of declarative memories, changes in personality, and psychiatric disturbances. Animal paradigms of CN lesions support a role for the CN in some of these behaviors. Current theories of basal ganglia function add explanatory value to the role of the CN in these behaviors. A disconnection of the caudate from limbic structures, including the amygdala may account for many nonmotor behaviors observed in HD.

scholarly journals Modeling Basal Ganglia for Understanding Parkinsonian Reaching Movements

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. N. Magdoom ◽  
D. Subramanian ◽  
V. S. Chakravarthy ◽  
B. Ravindran ◽  
Shun-ichi Amari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Reaching Movements ◽  
Substantia Nigra Pars Compacta ◽  
Temporal Difference ◽  
Indirect Pathway ◽  
Dynamical Disease ◽  
Exploratory Movements ◽  
Dopamine Signal

We present a computational model that highlights the role of basal ganglia (BG) in generating simple reaching movements. The model is cast within the reinforcement learning (RL) framework with correspondence between RL components and neuroanatomy as follows: dopamine signal of substantia nigra pars compacta as the temporal difference error, striatum as the substrate for the critic, and the motor cortex as the actor. A key feature of this neurobiological interpretation is our hypothesis that the indirect pathway is the explorer. Chaotic activity, originating from the indirect pathway part of the model, drives the wandering, exploratory movements of the arm. Thus, the direct pathway subserves exploitation, while the indirect pathway subserves exploration. The motor cortex becomes more and more independent of the corrective influence of BG as training progresses. Reaching trajectories show diminishing variability with training. Reaching movements associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) are simulated by reducing dopamine and degrading the complexity of indirect pathway dynamics by switching it from chaotic to periodic behavior. Under the simulated PD conditions, the arm exhibits PD motor symptoms like tremor, bradykinesia and undershooting. The model echoes the notion that PD is a dynamical disease.

scholarly journals A vibrissa pathway that activates the limbic system

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kleinfeld ◽  
Martin Deschenes ◽  
Michaël Elbaz ◽  
Amalia Callado Perez ◽  
Conrad Foo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Autonomic Functions ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Trigeminal Nuclei ◽  
Rodent Behavior ◽  
Controlling Behavior

Vibrissa sensory inputs play a central role in driving rodent behavior. These inputs transit through the sensory trigeminal nuclei, which give rise to the ascending lemniscal and paralemniscal pathways. While lemniscal projections are somatotopically mapped from brain stem to cortex, those of the paralemniscal pathway are more widely distributed. Yet the extent and topography of paralemniscal projections are unknown, along with the potential role of these projections in controlling behavior. Here we used viral tracers to map paralemniscal projections. We find that this pathway broadcasts vibrissa-based sensory signals to brain stem regions that are involved in the regulation of autonomic functions and to forebrain regions that are involved in the expression of emotional reactions. We further provide evidence that GABAergic cells of the Kölliker-Fuse nucleus gate trigeminal sensory input in the paralemniscal pathway via a mechanism of presynaptic or extrasynaptic inhibition.

scholarly journals Role of Individual Basal Ganglia Nuclei in Force Amplitude Generation

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 821-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew B. Spraker ◽  
Hong Yu ◽  
Daniel M. Corcos ◽  
David E. Vaillancourt
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Globus Pallidus ◽  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Activation Volume ◽  
Force Amplitude ◽  
Percent Signal Change ◽  
Signal Change ◽  
Increased Activity

The basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop is an important neural circuit that regulates motor control. A key parameter that the nervous system regulates is the level of force to exert against an object during tasks such as grasping. Previous studies indicate that the basal ganglia do not exhibit increased activity with increasing amplitude of force, although these conclusions are based mainly on the putamen. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate which regions in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and motor cortex display increased activity when producing pinch-grip contractions of increasing force amplitude. We found that the internal portion of the globus pallidus (GPi) and subthalamic nucleus (STN) had a positive increase in percent signal change with increasing force, whereas the external portion of the globus pallidus, anterior putamen, posterior putamen, and caudate did not. In the thalamus we found that the ventral thalamic regions increase in percent signal change and activation volume with increasing force amplitude. The contralateral and ipsilateral primary motor/somatosensory (M1/S1) cortices had a positive increase in percent signal change and activation volume with increasing force amplitude, and the contralateral M1/S1 had a greater increase in percent signal change and activation volume than the ipsilateral side. We also found that deactivation did not change across force in the motor cortex and basal ganglia, but that the ipsilateral M1/S1 had greater deactivation than the contralateral M1/S1. Our findings provide direct evidence that GPi and STN regulate the amplitude of force output. These findings emphasize the heterogeneous role of individual nuclei of the basal ganglia in regulating specific parameters of motor output.

scholarly journals Basal ganglia anatomy and schizophrenia: the role of antipsychotic treatment

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Zampieri ◽  
M. Bellani ◽  
B. Crespo-Facorro ◽  
P. Brambilla
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Caudate Nucleus ◽  
Antipsychotic Drugs ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Chronic Administration ◽  
The State ◽  
Antipsychotic Treatment ◽  
Progressive Enlargement

Progressive enlargement of basal ganglia volume has been observed in schizophrenia individuals, potentially being sustained by chronic administration of antipsychotic drugs. Here we briefly summarise the state of the art of the role of antipsychotic in leading to increased basal ganglia in schizophrenia, particularly focusing on the caudate nucleus.

Sensory–motor processing in the caudate nucleus and globus pallidas: a single-unit study in behaving primates

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (10) ◽  
pp. 1192-1201 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Aldridge ◽  
R. J. Anderson ◽  
J. T. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Caudate Nucleus ◽  
Control Process ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Wrist Flexion ◽  
Motor Processing ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Flexion Extension ◽  
Sensory Motor

Monkeys were prepared for chronic recording of single neurons in the caudate nucleus (Cd) or globus pallidus (GP) during learned wrist flexion–extension movements triggered by visual and somatic sensory inputs. Almost two-thirds of GP cells and more than one-third of Cd cells modified their discharge during these tasks. Three categories of response types were observed. The first was movement related. The second type was event related, in which the cells responded to either the onset or offset of the sensory inputs regardless of the correcting movement direction. A third type combined elements of the first two categories and was termed complex. These cells responded to complex abstractions of the sensory–motor event. A latency analysis indicated that the majority of cells was not involved in initiating movements but may have participated in movement execution. The results of this experiment suggest that during voluntary movement the basal ganglia activity is correlated with motor outputs, sensory inputs, and perceptual abstractions of these sensory–motor events. As such the results are compatible with an influence by diverse regions of cerebral cortex on basal ganglia neurons during the movement control process.

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