Department of Molecules - Signaling - Development, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, 82152 Martinsried, Germany.
Department of Molecules - Signaling - Development, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, 82152 Martinsried, Germany.
Neuron. 2019 Nov 20;104(4):749-764.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.08.029. Epub 2019 Oct 2.
Tactile stimuli are integrated and processed by neuronal circuits in the deep dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Several spinal interneuron populations have been implicated in tactile information processing. However, dorsal horn projection neurons that contribute to the postsynaptic dorsal column (PSDC) pathway transmitting tactile information to the brain are poorly characterized. Here, we show that spinal neurons marked by the expression of Zic2cre mediate light touch sensitivity and textural discrimination. A subset of Zic2cre neurons are PSDC neurons that project to brainstem dorsal column nuclei, and chemogenetic activation of Zic2 PSDC neurons increases sensitivity to light touch stimuli. Zic2 neurons receive direct input from the cortex and brainstem motor nuclei and are required for corrective motor movements. These results suggest that Zic2 neurons integrate sensory input from cutaneous afferents with descending signals from the brain to promote corrective movements and transmit processed touch information back to the brain. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
触觉刺激由脊髓深背角的神经元回路进行整合和处理。几种脊髓中间神经元群已被牵涉到触觉信息处理中。然而，对有助于将触觉信息传递到大脑的后索突触后柱 (PSDC) 途径的背角投射神经元的了解甚少。在这里，我们表明，由 Zic2cre 表达标记的脊髓神经元介导轻触敏感性和纹理辨别。Zic2cre 神经元的一个亚群是 PSDC 神经元，它们投射到脑干背柱核，并且化学遗传激活 Zic2 PSDC 神经元会增加对轻触刺激的敏感性。Zic2 神经元接收来自大脑皮层和脑干运动核的直接输入，并且对于纠正性运动是必需的。这些结果表明，Zic2 神经元将来自皮肤传入的感觉输入与来自大脑的下行信号整合在一起，以促进纠正性运动，并将处理后的触觉信息传回大脑。视频摘要。
