Nishimaru Hiroshi, Takamura Yusaku, Matsumoto Jumpei, Ferreira Pereira de Araújo Mariana, Ono Taketoshi, Nishijo Hisao
System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
Graduate School of Innovative Life Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
Front Syst Neurosci. 2021 Apr 29;15:655110. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.655110. eCollection 2021.
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is located within the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (PFC), and processes and facilitates goal-directed behaviors relating to emotion, reward, and motor control. However, it is unclear how ACC neurons dynamically encode motivated behavior during locomotion. In this study, we examined how information for locomotion and behavioral outcomes is temporally represented by individual and ensembles of ACC neurons in mice during a self-paced locomotor reward-based task. By recording and analyzing the activity of ACC neurons with a microdrive tetrode array while the mouse performed the locomotor task, we found that more than two-fifths of the neurons showed phasic activity relating to locomotion or the reward behavior. Some of these neurons showed significant differences in their firing rate depending on the behavioral outcome. Furthermore, by applying a demixed principal component analysis, the ACC population activity was decomposed into components representing locomotion and the previous/future outcome. These results indicated that ACC neurons dynamically integrate motor and behavioral inputs during goal-directed behaviors.
前扣带回皮质（ACC）位于背内侧前额叶皮质（PFC）内，负责处理并促进与情绪、奖励和运动控制相关的目标导向行为。然而，目前尚不清楚ACC神经元在运动过程中如何动态编码动机行为。在本研究中，我们探究了在基于自定节奏运动奖励的任务中，小鼠个体ACC神经元以及ACC神经元群体如何在时间上表征运动信息和行为结果。通过使用微驱动四极管阵列记录并分析ACC神经元的活动，同时让小鼠执行运动任务，我们发现超过五分之二的神经元表现出与运动或奖励行为相关的相位活动。其中一些神经元的放电频率根据行为结果显示出显著差异。此外，通过应用去混合主成分分析，ACC群体活动被分解为代表运动以及先前/未来结果的成分。这些结果表明，ACC神经元在目标导向行为过程中动态整合运动和行为输入。
