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J Neurophysiol (November 4, 2009). doi:10.1152/jn.91241.2008
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Submitted on November 21, 2008
Revised on October 23, 2009
Accepted on October 25, 2009

Conditional selection of contra- and ipsilateral forelimb movements by the dorsal premotor cortex in monkeys

Kiyoshi Kurata1*

1 Hirosaki University School of Medecine

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kkurata-ns{at}umin.net.

It has been suggested that the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) may contribute to conditional motor behavior. Thus, when a selection is instructed by arbitrary conditional cues, it is possible that the unilateral PMd affects behavior, regardless of which arm, contra- or ipsilateral, is to be used. We examined this possibility by recording neuronal activity and injecting muscimol into the caudal PMd (PMdc) of monkeys while they were performing a reaching task toward visuospatial targets with either the right or left arm, as instructed by low-frequency or high-frequency tone signals. Following the injection of a small amount of muscimol (1 L; 5 g/L) into the unilateral PMdc, monkeys exhibited two major deficits in behavioral performance: (1) erroneous selection of the arm not indicated by the instruction (selection errors), and (2) no movement initiation in response to a visuospatial target cue serving as a trigger signal for reaching within the reaction time limit (movement initiation errors). Errors were observed following unilateral muscimol injection into both right and left PMdc, however, selection errors occurred with significantly greater frequency in the arm contralateral to the injection site. By contrast, movement initiation errors were more commonly observed in left-arm trials, regardless of whether the right or left PMdc was inactivated. Notably, errors rarely occurred following PMv muscimol injection. These results suggest that the left and right PMdc cooperate to transform conditional sensory cues into appropriate motor output, and can affect both contra and ipsilateral body movement.







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