Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Nat Neurosci. 2022 Dec;25(12):1683-1692. doi: 10.1038/s41593-022-01198-z. Epub 2022 Nov 14.
Planning motor actions can improve behavioral performance; however, it can also lead to premature actions. Although the anterior lateral motor cortex (ALM) is known to be important for correct motor planning, it is currently unknown how it contributes to premature impulsive motor output. This was addressed using whole-cell voltage recordings from layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons within the ALM while mice performed a cued sensory association task. Here, a robust voltage response was evoked during the auditory cue, which was greater during incorrect premature behavior than during correct performance in the task. Optogenetically suppressing ALM during the cued sensory association task led to enhanced behavior, with fewer, and more delayed, premature responses and faster correct responses. Taken together, our findings extend the current known roles of the ALM, illustrating that ALM plays an important role in impulsive behavior by encoding and influencing premature motor output.
规划运动动作可以改善行为表现；然而，它也可能导致过早的动作。尽管前外侧运动皮层 (ALM) 已知对正确的运动规划很重要，但目前尚不清楚它如何有助于过早的冲动运动输出。这是通过在小鼠执行提示性感觉联想任务时，从 ALM 的第 2/3 层锥体神经元中进行全细胞膜片钳记录来解决的。在这里，在听觉提示期间会引起强烈的电压反应，而在不正确的过早行为期间比在任务中的正确表现期间更大。在提示性感觉联想任务期间光遗传抑制 ALM 会导致行为增强，过早的反应更少，更延迟，正确的反应更快。总的来说，我们的发现扩展了当前已知的 ALM 作用，表明 ALM 通过编码和影响过早的运动输出，在冲动行为中发挥重要作用。
