Cortico-striatal circuits for bilaterally coordinated movements

Movement initiation and control require the orchestrated activity of sensorimotor cortical and subcortical regions. However, the exact contribution of specific pathways and interactions to the final behavioral outcome are still under debate. Here, by combining structural lesions, pathway-specific optogenetic manipulations and freely moving electrophysiological recordings in rats, we studied cortico-striatal interactions in the context of forelimb bilaterally coordinated movements. We provide evidence indicating that bilateral actions are initiated by motor cortical regions where intratelencephalic bilateral cortico-striatal (bcs-IT) projections recruit the sensorimotor striatum to provide stability and duration to already commanded bilateral movements. Furthermore, striatal spiking activity was correlated with movement duration and kinematic parameters of the execution. bcs-IT stimulation affected only the representation of movement duration but spared that of kinematics. Our findings confirm the modular organization of information processing in the striatum and its involvement in moment-to-moment movement control but not initiation or selection.