Previous studies on the control of hand grasping have been focused on the importance of direct cortical control of hand motoneurons, which bypassing the spinal interneurons. Here the authors recorded spinal interneuron activities in monkeys performing a grasping task and they suggested that spinal interneurons function to integrate several descending commands to create a final output to the motoneurons. This finding suggested the possible application of functional electrical stimulation (FES) approach for spinal cord to recreate hand grasping.
Researcher Information
JST PRESTO Research Area“Decoding and Controlling Brain Information”
Research Theme“The role of reafference signal for generating volitional muscle activities”
Journal Information
Tomohiko Takei and Kazuhiko Seki
“Spinal premotor interneurons mediate dynamic and static motor commands for precision grip in monkeys.”
The Journal of Neuroscience; 33(20):8850-60, Published online on 15 May, 2013.
doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4032-12.2013
Contact
[About Research]
Tomohiko Takei
Section chief, Department of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Neuroscience
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Kazuhiko Seki
Director, Department of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Neuroscience
E-mail:
URL: http://www.ncnp.go.jp/nin/guide/r_model/index-e.html
[About Program]
Takafumi Kawaguchi, Fumiharu Kimura,
Life Science Group, Department of Innovation Research
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
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