“ Because the role of the MLR is conserved in many vertebrate species, we assume that it is an ancient region in their evolution- essential for initiating walking, running, flying, or swimming,” he adds. It is found in many vertebrates, including monkeys, guinea pigs, cats, salamanders, and even lampreys. Upstream of the reticulospinal neurons is the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR), which is also essential for locomotion since, in animals, its stimulation triggers forward propulsion. Subscribe to Technology Networks’ daily newsletter, delivering breaking science news straight to your inbox every day. These neurons relay nerve signals between the brain and the spinal cord and are essential for motor control of the limbs and trunk and movement coordination. In both cases, movement initiation relies on the activation of so-called reticulospinal control neurons, which form an intertwined network in the most posterior part of the brain-the brainstem. But the perception of danger or a painful stimulus can also activate an automatic flight reflex”, Martin Carbo-Tano, a post-doctoral fellow at Paris Brain Institute, explains. “ Animals move to explore their environment in search of food, interaction with others, or simply out of curiosity. It could eventually be extended to humans-helping to understand how movement control circuits can malfunction, in Parkinson’s disease notably.įor those fortunate enough to walk normally, wandering is such an expected behavior that we hardly consider that it involves complex, partly involuntary processes. ![]() ![]() This new mapping carried out in zebrafish corroborates recent studies in mice. In a study published in Nature Neuroscience, they show that it involves a region classically called the mesencephalic locomotor region, which controls the vigor and speed of movement, and transmits the nervous message to the spinal cord via control neurons located in the brainstem. At Paris Brain Institute, Martin Carbo-Tano, Mathilde Lapoix, and their colleagues in the “Spinal Sensory Signaling” team, led by Claire Wyart (Inserm), have focused on a specific component of locomotion: forward propulsion. Its dysfunction can have multiple, sometimes extremely subtle causes, within the motor cortex, brain stem, spinal cord, or muscles. Walking is a complex mechanism involving both automatic processes and conscious control.
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