Corticothalamic communication for action coordination in a skilled motor behavior.

The coordination of forelimb and orofacial movements to compose an ethological reach-to-consume behavior likely involves neural communication across brain regions. Leveraging wide-field imaging and photoinhibition to survey across the cortex, we identified a cortical network and a high-order motor area (the central region of the secondary motor cortex (MOs-c)), which coordinate action progression in a mouse reach-and-withdraw-to-drink (RWD) behavior. Electrophysiology and photoinhibition across multiple projection neuron types within the MOs-c revealed differential contributions of pyramidal tract and corticothalamic (CTMOs) output channels to action progression and hand-mouth coordination. Notably, CTMOs display sustained firing throughout RWD actions and selectively enhance RWD-relevant activity in postsynaptic thalamus neurons, which also contribute to action coordination. CTMOs receive converging monosynaptic inputs from forelimb and orofacial sensorimotor areas and are reciprocally connected to thalamic neurons, which project back to the cortical network. Therefore, the motor cortex CT channel may selectively amplify the thalamic integration of cortical and subcortical sensorimotor streams to coordinate a skilled motor behavior.

Duke Scholars

Author Josh Huang Neurobiology

Author Patrick Mulcahey  

Author Nicolas Brunel Neurobiology

Author Shreyas Mysore Suryanarayana