Neuron
Volume 86, Issue 6, 17 June 2015, Pages 1385-1392
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Motor Learning Consolidates Arc-Expressing Neuronal Ensembles in Secondary Motor Cortex

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.05.022Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • The mouse M2 cortex is required for learning skilled movements in a rotarod task

  • Different motor tasks recruit distinct sets of M2 neurons with Arc gene expression

  • Rotarod learning consolidates Arc+ neurons into a persistently reactivated ensemble

  • The intensity of Arc expression in a neuron predicts its reactivation in the ensemble

Summary

Motor behaviors recruit task-specific neuronal ensembles in motor cortices, which are consolidated over subsequent learning. However, little is known about the molecules that can identify the participating neurons and predict the outcomes of the consolidation process. Using a mouse rotarod-learning task, we showed that lesion or inactivation of the secondary motor (M2) cortex disrupts learning of skilled movements. We tracked the endogenous promoter activity of the neuronal activity-regulated gene Arc in individual M2 neurons during rotarod learning by in vivo two-photon imaging of a knockin reporter. We found that task training initially recruits Arc-promoter-activated neurons and then consolidates them into a specific ensemble exhibiting persistent reactivation of Arc-promoter. The intensity of a neuron’s initial Arc-promoter activation predicts its reactivation probability and neurons with weak initial Arc-promoter activation are dismissed from the ensemble during subsequent training. Our findings demonstrate a task-specific Arc-dependent cellular consolidation process in M2 cortex during motor learning.

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