Dataset Information

Coordination of Orofacial Motor Actions into Exploratory Behavior by Rat.

ABSTRACT: The delineation of sensorimotor circuits that guide exploration begins with an understanding of the pattern of motor outputs [1]. These motor patterns provide a clue to the form of the underlying circuits [2-4] (but see [5]). We focus on the behaviors that rodents use to explore their peripersonal space through goal-directed positioning of their nose, head, and vibrissae. Rodents sniff in response to novel odors, reward expectation, and as part of social interactions [6-12]. Sniffing serves olfaction [13, 14], while whisking synchronized to sniffing serves vibrissa-based touch [6, 15, 16]. We quantify the ethology of exploratory nose and head movements in relation to breathing. We find that sniffing is accompanied by prominent lateral and vertical deflections of the nose, i.e., twitches, which are driven by activation of the deflector nasi muscles [17]. On the timescale of individual breaths, nose motion is rhythmic and has a maximum deflection following the onset of inspiration. On a longer timescale, excursions of the nose persist for several breaths and are accompanied by an asymmetry in vibrissa positioning toward the same side of the face. Such directed deflections can be triggered by a lateralized source of odor. Lastly, bobbing of the head as the animal cranes and explores is phase-locked to sniffing and to movement of the nose. These data, along with prior results on the resetting of the whisk cycle at the onset of inspiration [15, 16, 18], reveal that the onset of each breath initiates a "snapshot" of the orofacial sensory environment. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

SUBMITTER: Kurnikova A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5653531 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Coordination of Orofacial Motor Actions into Exploratory Behavior by Rat.

Kurnikova Anastasia A Moore Jeffrey D JD Liao Song-Mao SM Deschênes Martin M Kleinfeld David D

Current biology : CB 20170216 5

The delineation of sensorimotor circuits that guide exploration begins with an understanding of the pattern of motor outputs [1]. These motor patterns provide a clue to the form of the underlying circuits [2-4] (but see [5]). We focus on the behaviors that rodents use to explore their peripersonal space through goal-directed positioning of their nose, head, and vibrissae. Rodents sniff in response to novel odors, reward expectation, and as part of social interactions [6-12]. Sniffing serves olfa ...[more]

PMID: 28216320

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Project description:The rat vibrissal system is an important model for the study of somatosensation, but the small size and rapid speed of the vibrissae have precluded measuring precise vibrissal-object contact sequences during behavior. We used a laser light sheet to quantify, with 1 ms resolution, the spatiotemporal structure of whisker-surface contact as five naïve rats freely explored a flat, vertical glass wall. Consistent with previous work, we show that the whisk cycle cannot be uniquely defined because different whiskers often move asynchronously, but that quasi-periodic (~8 Hz) variations in head velocity represent a distinct temporal feature on which to lock analysis. Around times of minimum head velocity, whiskers protract to make contact with the surface, and then sustain contact with the surface for extended durations (~25-60 ms) before detaching. This behavior results in discrete temporal windows in which large numbers of whiskers are in contact with the surface. These "sustained collective contact intervals" (SCCIs) were observed on 100% of whisks for all five rats. The overall spatiotemporal structure of the SCCIs can be qualitatively predicted based on information about head pose and the average whisk cycle. In contrast, precise sequences of whisker-surface contact depend on detailed head and whisker kinematics. Sequences of vibrissal contact were highly variable, equally likely to propagate in all directions across the array. Somewhat more structure was found when sequences of contacts were examined on a row-wise basis. In striking contrast to the high variability associated with contact sequences, a consistent feature of each SCCI was that the contact locations of the whiskers on the glass converged and moved more slowly on the sheet. Together, these findings lead us to propose that the rat uses a strategy of "windowed sampling" to extract an object's spatial features: specifically, the rat spatially integrates quasi-static mechanical signals across whiskers during the period of sustained contact, resembling an "enclosing" haptic procedure.

Project description:Objective: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience significant challenges with their motor coordination. It is not, however, well understood how motor coordination may impact the behavioral functioning of children with ASD. Therefore the purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between motor coordination and adaptive behavior in 7-12-year-old children with ASD. Methods: Motor coordination was assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd Edition (MABC-2) and adaptive behavior was assessed by parental report using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 2nd Edition (VABS-2) as part of a larger cross-sectional study. Descriptive characteristics were calculated for MABC-2 and VABS-2 scores and Spearman's rank order correlation analyses were used to examine the relationship between motor coordination and adaptive behavior. Results: On average, the participants (n = 26) exhibited significant challenges in regard to their motor coordination with all but two participants classified as having significant motor impairments by scoring at or below the 16th percentile on the MABC-2. Results from the correlation analyses indicated that manual dexterity was positively related to daily living skills (? = 0.58, p < 0.003), and overall motor coordination was positively related to daily living skills (? = 0.60, p < 0.003) and overall adaptive behavior (? = 0.57, p < 0.003). In all instances, better motor coordination was related to more adaptive behaviors. Conclusion: These results highlight the profound motor coordination challenges that children with ASD experience and also suggest that these challenges, particularly with manual dexterity, are related to the daily behavior of children with ASD. The interrelatedness of motor and adaptive behavior suggests the need to further explore the impact of motor-based interventions for this population, as well as conduct longitudinal studies to disentangle these relationships.

Project description:Chronic orofacial pain disorders are common debilitating conditions, affecting the trigeminal system. Its underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are still unclear and the therapy is often unsatisfactory, therefore, preclinical models are crucial to identify the key mediators and novel treatment options. Complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced orofacial inflammatory allodynia/hyperalgesia is commonly used in rodents, but it has not been validated with currently used drugs. Here we tested the effects of the adjuvant analgesic/antiepileptic voltage-gated Na+ channel blocker complex mechanism of action topiramate in comparison with the gold standard antimigraine serotonin 5-HT1B/D receptor agonist sumatriptan in this model. CFA was injected subcutaneously into the right whisker pad of male Sprague-Dawley rats (250-300 g), then mechanonociceptive threshold values were investigated with von Frey filaments (3, 5, and 7 days after CFA injection). Effects of topiramate (30 mg/kg per os) and sumatriptan (1 mg/kg subcutaneous) on the adjuvant-induced chronic inflammatory orofacial allodynia were investigated 60, 120, and 180 min after the treatments each day. To determine the optimal concentration for drug effect analysis, we tested the effects of two different CFA-concentrations (1 and 0.5 mg/mL) on mechanonociceptive thresholds. Both concentrations of CFA induced a chronic orofacial allodynia in 60% of all rats. Although, higher CFA concentration induced greater allodynia, much more stable threshold reduction was observed with the lower CFA concentration: on day 3 the thresholds decreased from 18.30 g to approximately 11 g (low) and 5 g (high), respectively, however a slight increase was observed in the case of higher CFA concentration (on days 5, 7, and 11). In all investigation days, topiramate showed significant anti-allodynic effect comparing the pre and post drug dose and comparing the vehicle treated to the drug treated groups. Sumatriptan also caused a significant threshold increase compared to pre dose thresholds (day 3) and also showed a slight anti-allodynic effect compared to the vehicle-treated group (day 3 and 5). In the present study CFA-induced chronic orofacial allodynia was reversed by topiramate in rats validating the model with the adjuvant analgesic. Other than establishing a validated orofacial pain-related syndrome model in rats, new ways are opened for the repurposing of topiramate.

Dataset Information

Coordination of Orofacial Motor Actions into Exploratory Behavior by Rat.

Publications

Coordination of Orofacial Motor Actions into Exploratory Behavior by Rat.

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