Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Brain Science, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2011 Aug;21(4):571-8. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2011.05.002. Epub 2011 May 31.
How neural circuits underlie the acquisition and control of learned motor behaviors has traditionally been explored in monkeys and, more recently, songbirds. The development of genetic tools for functional circuit analysis in rodents, the availability of transgenic animals with well characterized phenotypes, and the relative ease with which rats and mice can be trained to perform various motor tasks, make rodents attractive models for exploring the neural circuit mechanisms underlying the acquisition and production of learned motor skills. Here we discuss the advantages and drawbacks of this approach, review recent trends and results, and outline possible strategies for wider adoption of rodents as a model system for complex motor learning.
传统上，人们一直在猴子中探索神经回路如何支撑习得运动行为的获得和控制，而最近则在鸣禽中进行了探索。遗传工具的发展为啮齿动物的功能回路分析提供了便利，具有良好特征表型的转基因动物的可用性，以及大鼠和小鼠相对容易接受各种运动任务的训练，使啮齿动物成为探索习得运动技能获得和产生的神经回路机制的有吸引力的模型。在这里，我们讨论了这种方法的优缺点，回顾了最近的趋势和结果，并概述了将啮齿动物作为复杂运动学习模型系统更广泛采用的可能策略。
