Spinal interneuron circuits reduce approximately 10-Hz movement discontinuities by phase cancellation.

ABSTRACT: Tremor imposes an important limit to the accuracy of fine movements in healthy individuals and can be a disabling feature of neurological disease. Voluntary slow finger movements are not smooth but are characterized by large discontinuities (i.e., steps) in the tremor frequency range (approximately 10 Hz). Previous studies have shown that these discontinuities are coherent with activity in the primary motor cortex (M1), but that other brain areas are probably also involved. We investigated the contribution of three important subcortical areas in two macaque monkeys trained to perform slow finger movements. Local field potential and single-unit activity were recorded from the deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN), medial pontomedullary reticular formation, and the intermediate zone of the spinal cor

SUBMITTER: Williams ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2890710 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature