New modules are added to vibrissal premotor circuitry with the emergence of exploratory whisking.

ABSTRACT: Rodents begin to use bilaterally coordinated, rhythmic sweeping of their vibrissae ("whisking") for environmental exploration around 2 weeks after birth. Whether (and how) the vibrissal control circuitry changes after birth is unknown, and the relevant premotor circuitry remains poorly characterized. Using a modified rabies virus transsynaptic tracing strategy, we labeled neurons synapsing directly onto vibrissa facial motor neurons (vFMNs). Sources of potential excitatory, inhibitory, and modulatory vFMN premotor neurons, and differences between the premotor circuitry for vFMNs innervating intrinsic versus extrinsic vibrissal muscles were systematically characterized. The emergence of whisking is accompanied by the addition of new sets of bilateral excitatory inputs to vFMNs from neurons

SUBMITTER: Takatoh J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3559006 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature