A prefrontal motor circuit initiates persistent movement

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Animal Behavior
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Persistent movement is crucial for animal survival and adaptation.
• The neural mechanisms underlying the initiation of persistent actions remain poorly understood.
• Identifying brain regions that select information to guide persistent actions is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) motor cortex projecting (MP) neurons in initiating persistent movement.
• To determine whether dmPFC MP neurons encode contextual information or natural valence during action initiation.
• To elucidate the neural circuit and computational basis for persistent movement initiation.

Main Methods:

• Single-unit extracellular recordings in awake mice.
• Opto-tagging to identify specific neuronal populations.
• Inactivation of dmPFC MP neurons.
• Computational modeling of sensory stimulus input.

Main Results:

• A specific population of dmPFC MP neurons was identified as initiating persistent movement.
• These neurons selectively encode contextual information, not natural valence.
• Inactivation of dmPFC MP neurons impaired movement initiation and reduced activity in downstream areas (insular and motor cortex).
• dmPFC MP neurons are not required for maintaining ongoing persistent movement.

Conclusions:

• dmPFC MP neurons play a critical role in initiating, but not maintaining, persistent movement.
• Contextual information processing by dmPFC MP neurons drives action initiation.
• Successive sensory stimuli serve as input signals for dmPFC MP neurons to initiate persistent actions, revealing a novel neural initiation mechanism.