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Searching for intracollicular neural substrate and neural pathways involved in paradoxical kinesia in rats

Subject Area Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
Term from 2020 to 2023
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 436414341
 
Final Report Year 2024

Final Report Abstract

Our main goal is to uncover the neural mechanism underlying paradoxical kinesia, an intriguing phenomenon that enables some akinetic patients with Parkinson’s disease to make quick and accurate movements when exposed to specific auditory or visual stimuli. The bulk of evidences obtained by our group strongly suggest the inferior colliculus (IC) as part of an alternative pathway that, when activated, induces motor improvement and thus paradoxical kinesia. However, the exact identity of this pathway, and how it is activated, is still unknown. The present proposal aimed to further investigate which IC projections are involved in this motor response and which intracollicular neural substrate is activated in order to trigger paradoxical kinesia. For that, optogenetic technique was used to target specifically glutamatergic neurons in the IC and assess the behavioral outcome. Additionally, intracollicular optogenetic modulation was combined with electrophysiological neural recordings in order to monitor simultaneously neural activity both in the vicinity of and distant to the stimulation site.

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