title: Neuronal activity in primate striatum and pallidum related to bimanual motor actions.
abstract: To assess whether striatal and pallidal neurones may contribute to bimanual co-ordination, two macaque monkeys were trained to perform a delayed conditional sequence of co-ordinated pull and grasp movements, executed either bimanually or unimanually. Most of the 58 task-related neurones, recorded from the caudate nucleus, putamen, external and internal divisions of the globus pallidus, exhibited an activity related to the execution of the movements. Only a quarter of neurones displayed preparatory activity. The majority of units exhibited a significant modulation of activity in unimanual trials irrespective of the hand used to perform the task. In bimanual trials, one-third of units exhibited discharge patterns reflecting a bimanual synergy, suggesting a possible role for basal ganglia in inter-limb co-operation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology and Program in Neurosciences, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Th
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wannier
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jouffrais
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Rouiller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000502:physiology*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D011897:Random Allocation