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Anticipatory Activity of Motor Cortex in Relation to Rhythmic Whisking

¹Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York; and ²Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology and the Program in Neuroscience, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

Submitted 7 September 2005; accepted in final form 24 October 2005

Rats characteristically generate stereotyped exploratory (5–12 Hz) whisker movements, which can also be adaptively modulated. Here we tested the hypothesis that the vibrissal representation in motor cortex (vMCx) initiates and modulates whisking by acting on a subcortical whisking central pattern generator (CPG). We recorded local field potentials (LFPs) in vMCx of behaving Sprague-Dawley rats while monitoring whisking behavior through mystacial electromyograms (EMGs). Recordings were made during free exploration, under body restraint, or in a head-fixed animal. LFP activity increased significantly prior to the onset of a whisking epoch and ended prior to the epoch's termination. In addition, shifts in whisking kinematics within a whisk epoch were often reflected in changes in LFP activity. These data support the hypothesis that vMCx may initiate and modulate whisking behavior through its action on a subcortical CPG.

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