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Project

Neurocircuit mechanisms of spinal cord in task-specific motor training and maintenance of skilled locomotor sequence

Neurocircuits within the spinal cord are essential to achieve movement automaticity. Initial phase of skilled motor learning requires the cortex, basal ganglia and many of brainstem circuits, circuits that are required to maintain learned motor skills after repetitive training are unknown. We hypothesized that much of “motor memory” must be a function of spinal cord circuits, to allow an effortless execution of complex pattern of movements. My PhD project focuses on characterizing the extent and limitation on spinal cord capacity to learn new motor paradigm and retain task-specific motor memory, as well as dissection of neuronal circuits within the spinal cord that underlie those processes. Here, we propose to use high-speed kinematic recordings and unbiased analyses to characterize the limitation and extent of spinal cord-driven motor learning and maintenance. Furthermore, we will use an intersectional approach of mouse genetics, virus-mediated circuit activity manipulation and electrophysiology to focus on a specific population of spinal cord interneurons, Lbx1 spinal interneurons and their subpopulations, in somatosensory integration and motor adaptation. The knowledge gained from this proposal to serve as an essential logical base to 1) contribution of spinal cord circuits in skilled motor learning and 2) learning model that spinal cord adopts to achieve acquisition of complex sequence of movements.

Date:1 Jul 2020 →  30 Jun 2023
Keywords:Spinal cord learning, Locomotion, Cellular plasticity
Disciplines:Neurophysiology, Neuroanatomy
Project type:PhD project