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Multi-area activity in mouse motor cortex associated with one- and two-handed oromanual dexterity
John M Barrett1, Joshua I Glaser2,3,4, Andrew Miri4,5
1Department of Neuroscience, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|April 27, 2026
Summary
Mouse motor cortex activity differs based on hand use during food manipulation. Forelimb motor areas (fl-M1, fl-M2) show changes with ipsilateral, contralateral, unimanual, or bimanual actions, unlike the LOM area.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Comparative Cognition
Background:
- Understanding cortical control of dexterous hand movements typically relies on contralateral limb studies.
- Rodent food handling offers a natural model for studying uni- and bimanual forelimb dexterity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how movement-related neural activity in mouse motor cortex changes when using the ipsilateral hand, contralateral hand, or both hands.
- To differentiate the roles of forelimb primary motor cortex (fl-M1), secondary motor cortex (fl-M2), and lateral oral and manual (LOM) cortex during manual tasks.
Main Methods:
- Recorded high-resolution 3D kinematics of mouse forelimb movements during food manipulation.
- Simultaneously recorded spiking activity from neurons in fl-M1, fl-M2, and LOM motor cortices.
- Analyzed unit and population-level neural activity in relation to hand laterality (ipsilateral/contralateral) and manual strategy (unimanual/bimanual).
Main Results:
- Neural activity in fl-M1 and fl-M2 was sensitive to both hand laterality and manual strategy.
- Activity in LOM cortex remained largely invariant to hand laterality and manual strategy.
- Distinct patterns of motor cortex activity were observed for unimanual (ipsilateral/contralateral) versus bimanual food manipulation.
Conclusions:
- fl-M1 and fl-M2 likely maintain distinct representations of both forelimbs, crucial for bimanual coordination.
- LOM cortex appears specialized for encoding forelimb parameters essential for oromanual coordination during ingestion.
- Motor cortical dynamics are adaptable, reflecting different computational demands for uni- versus bimanual tasks.
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