TY - JOUR
T1 - Functional organization of adult motor cortex is dependent upon continued protein synthesis
AU - Kleim, Jeffrey A.
AU - Bruneau, Rochelle
AU - Calder, Kevin
AU - Pocock, David
AU - VandenBerg, Penny M.
AU - MacDonald, Erin
AU - Monfils, Marie H.
AU - Sutherland, Robert J.
AU - Nader, Karim
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Jasmine Hassellback and Kyle Yamagishi for assistance with animal training and map analysis; and we thank Cristina Alberini and Maria Milekic for assistance with TCA precipitation/methionine incorporation procedures. This work was supported by grants from NSERC (to J.A.K. and separately to K.N.), CIHR, AHFMR (to J.A.K.), and the Alfred P. Sloan and EJLB Foundation (to K.N.).
PY - 2003/9/25
Y1 - 2003/9/25
N2 - The functional organization of adult cerebral cortex is characterized by the presence of highly ordered sensory and motor maps. Despite their archetypical organization, the maps maintain the capacity to rapidly reorganize, suggesting that the neural circuitry underlying cortical representations is inherently plastic. Here we show that the circuitry supporting motor maps is dependent upon continued protein synthesis. Injections of two different protein synthesis inhibitors into adult rat forelimb motor cortex caused an immediate and enduring loss of movement representations. The disappearance of the motor map was accompanied by a significant reduction in synapse number, synapse size, and cortical field potentials and caused skilled forelimb movement impairments. Further, motor skill training led to a reappearance of movement representations. We propose that the circuitry of adult motor cortex is perpetually labile and requires continued protein synthesis in order to maintain its functional organization.
AB - The functional organization of adult cerebral cortex is characterized by the presence of highly ordered sensory and motor maps. Despite their archetypical organization, the maps maintain the capacity to rapidly reorganize, suggesting that the neural circuitry underlying cortical representations is inherently plastic. Here we show that the circuitry supporting motor maps is dependent upon continued protein synthesis. Injections of two different protein synthesis inhibitors into adult rat forelimb motor cortex caused an immediate and enduring loss of movement representations. The disappearance of the motor map was accompanied by a significant reduction in synapse number, synapse size, and cortical field potentials and caused skilled forelimb movement impairments. Further, motor skill training led to a reappearance of movement representations. We propose that the circuitry of adult motor cortex is perpetually labile and requires continued protein synthesis in order to maintain its functional organization.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00592-0
DO - 10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00592-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 14527441
AN - SCOPUS:0141862003
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 40
SP - 167
EP - 176
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 1
ER -