title: Inhibition, Not Excitation, Drives Rhythmic Whisking.
abstract: Sniffing and whisking typify the exploratory behavior of rodents. These actions involve separate oscillators in the medulla, located respectively in the pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC) and the vibrissa-related region of the intermediate reticular formation (vIRt). We examine how these oscillators synergize to control sniffing and whisking. We find that the vIRt contains glycinergic/GABAergic cells that rhythmically inhibit vibrissa facial motoneurons. As a basis for the entrainment of whisking by breathing, but not vice versa, we provide evidence for unidirectional connections from the preBötC to the vIRt. The preBötC further contributes to the control of the mystacial pad. Lastly, we show that bilateral synchrony of whisking relies on the respiratory rhythm, consistent with commissural connections between preBötC cells. These data yield a putative circuit in which the preBötC acts as a master clock for the synchronization of vibrissa, pad, and snout movements, as well as for the bilateral synchronization of whisking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Laval University, Québec City, QC G1J 2R3, Canada. Electronic address: martin.deschenes@crulrg.ulaval.ca.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deschênes
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takatoh
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurnikova
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Laval University, Québec City, QC G1J 2R3, Canada.
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Demers
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Laval University, Québec City, QC G1J 2R3, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elbaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphological Brain Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furuta
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Section of Neurobiology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kleinfeld
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D059330:GABAergic Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D005998:Glycine / Q000502:physiology; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D010507:Periodicity; D051381:Rats; D012119:Respiration; D012154:Reticular Formation / Q000502:physiology; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D005998:Glycine