Whishaw I Q, Tomie J A, Ladowsky R L
Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Albta, Canada.
Behav Brain Res. 1990 Nov 15;40(2):131-44. doi: 10.1016/0166-4328(90)90005-y.
The corticospinal and rubrospinal systems are thought to collaborate in the production of skilled forelimb movements in primates. This study examined whether this relation holds in rodents. Limb preference and limb skill were assessed in a reaching-for-food task in rats with ibotenic acid lesions of the red nucleus or combined red nucleus lesions and aspirative motor cortex lesions. Major findings were: (1) Unilateral red nucleus lesions did not influence subsequent development of limb preference in naive rats. (2) Unilateral red nucleus lesions in pretrained rats failed to affect the incidence of reaching (total reaches) and reaching success (hit percent) by either the contralateral or ipsilateral limb. (3) Whereas motor cortex lesions impaired subsequent use of the contralateral limb, additional red nucleus lesions did not change total reaches or hit percent, but did produce moderate qualitative changes in limb accuracy and paw opening during grasping. The results demonstrate that in the rat, the red nucleus is not essential for the ballistic component of reaching but may contribute to fine motor control.
皮质脊髓系统和红核脊髓系统被认为在灵长类动物熟练的前肢运动产生过程中相互协作。本研究检验了这种关系在啮齿动物中是否成立。在患有红核鹅膏蕈氨酸损伤或联合红核损伤及抽吸性运动皮层损伤的大鼠的取食任务中评估肢体偏好和肢体技能。主要发现如下：（1）单侧红核损伤不影响未受过训练的大鼠随后肢体偏好的发展。（2）在预先训练的大鼠中，单侧红核损伤未能影响对侧或同侧肢体的够物次数（总够物次数）和够物成功率（命中百分比）。（3）虽然运动皮层损伤会损害随后对侧肢体的使用，但额外的红核损伤并未改变总够物次数或命中百分比，但确实在抓握过程中对肢体准确性和爪张开产生了适度的质性变化。结果表明，在大鼠中，红核对于够物的弹道成分并非必不可少，但可能有助于精细运动控制。
