title: Selective Suppression of Local Circuits during Movement Preparation in the Mouse Motor Cortex.
abstract: Prepared movements are more efficient than those that are not prepared for. Although changes in cortical activity have been observed prior to a forthcoming action, the circuits involved in motor preparation remain unclear. Here, we use in vivo two-photon calcium imaging to uncover changes in the motor cortex during variable waiting periods prior to a forepaw reaching task in mice. Consistent with previous reports, we observed a subset of neurons with increased activity during the waiting period; however, these neurons did not account for the degree of preparation as defined by reaction time (RT). Instead, the suppression of activity of distinct neurons in the same cortical area better accounts for RT. This suppression of neural activity resulted in a distinct and reproducible pattern when mice were well prepared. Thus, the selective suppression of network activity in the motor cortex may be a key feature of prepared movements.
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Majima
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Takahide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Itokazu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Takakuni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maki
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Urban-Raphael
authors.initials: UR
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Castner
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Izumo
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sohya
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience, Technical University of Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Tatsuo K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan; ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukiyasu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kamitani
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Saitama 332-0012, Japan. Electronic address: takashi.sato@cin.uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Takashi R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011680:Pupil / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Motor cortex; motor preparation; mouse behavior; reaction time; two-photon imaging