Investigation of cerebellar outputs for adapting locomotion

• Autor(a) principal: Matos, Matilde Costa Coelho De Saldanha
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/162064
• topic: Adaptation; Locomotion; Cerebellum; Neural circuits; Mouse; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Outras Engenharias e Tecnologias

Every time we are exposed to new perturbations that affect our walking, we have to adjust in time and space to ensure a coordinated gait. This requires locomotor learning which can be studied using a split-belt treadmill, where each side of the body can move at different speeds. Within minutes, humans learn to regain a more symmetric gait in response to the split-belt perturbation. Previous findings obtained in the Carey lab, where the present project was carried out, demonstrated that this behavior is conserved in mice and requires the intermediate cerebellum. The goal of this study is to unravel the circuits, downstream of the interposed, that carry spatial and/ or temporal calibration signals to the limbs so as to correct movement. We employ the split-belt treadmill paradigm to test if spatial and temporal adaptation relies on distinct cerebellar output circuits. This was done using mice lacking specific subpopulations of interposed neurons projecting to downstream regions. We analyzed the functional impact of different interposed circuits in both spatial and temporal locomotor adaptation. Since the behavior is conserved across vertebrates and is currently used in rehabilitation therapy, these results may help refine or create new strategies to treat certain gait asymmetries.