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From: NIH news releases and news items [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
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Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 3:14 PM
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Subject: SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY BRAIN CIRCUITS RELATED TO THE INITIATION AND
TERMINATION OF MOVEMENT SEQUENCES IN NIH-SUPPORTED STUDY
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
<http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/>
For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 22, 2010
CONTACT: NIAAA Press Office, 301-443-3860,
<e-mail:[log in to unmask]>
SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY BRAIN CIRCUITS RELATED TO THE INITIATION AND TERMINATION
OF MOVEMENT SEQUENCES IN NIH-SUPPORTED STUDY
In humans, throwing a ball, typing on a keyboard, or engaging in most other
physical activities involves the coordination of numerous discrete movements
that are organized as action sequences. Scientists at the National
Institutes of Health and the Gulbenkian Institute in Portugal have
identified brain activity in mice that can signal the initiation and
termination of newly learned action sequences. The findings appear online
today in the current issue of Nature.
"This interesting report should advance our understanding of the
neurobiology of movement disorders, and open new avenues of research for
their treatment and prevention," says Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D., acting
director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA),
part of the NIH.
The study was conducted by Xin Jin, Ph.D. an investigator in the NIAAA
Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience, and Rui M. Costa, D.V.M, Ph.D.,
principal investigator of the Champalimaud Neuroscience Program at the
Gulbenkian Institute. The researchers trained mice to press a lever exactly
eight times to receive a sugar-water reward. As the mice learned this task,
the researchers monitored brain cell activity in the animals' basal ganglia,
deep brain structures that are known to help start and control movement.
"We recorded activity in the dorsal striatum and substantia nigra during the
learning of novel action sequences," explained Dr. Jin. "Although previous
studies have reported changes in neural activity in these areas during
movement, their role in the initiation and termination of newly learned
action sequences has not been explored."
Drs. Costa and Jin discovered that certain neurons in these regions
exhibited a change in activity before the first lever press of a sequence,
while other neurons showed a change in activity before the last press of a
sequence. They also noticed that this activity signaling the initiation and
termination of each action sequence emerged during learning.
The researchers then evaluated these circuits in mice that had been
genetically manipulated to disrupt the development of the start and stop
signals. The researchers found the manipulation had impaired the learning of
the lever-pressing sequence.
"Our findings demonstrate that as we learn novel action sequences, these
basal ganglia circuits develop activity that signals the beginning and end
of each sequence," says Dr. Costa. "These results could have important
implications for disorders where these circuits degenerate, such as
Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, in which the initiation and
termination of voluntary movement sequences are impaired. More broadly, they
are relevant for understanding how we learn and control the execution of
behavioral sequences, which may impact disorders of action control like
compulsivity."
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National
Institutes of Health, is the primary U.S. agency for conducting and
supporting research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment
of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems. NIAAA also disseminates
research findings to general, professional, and academic audiences.
Additional alcohol research information and publications are available at
<www.niaaa.nih.gov>.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research
Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency
for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical
research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs,
visit <www.nih.gov>.
##
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<http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jul2010/niaaa-22.htm>.
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