BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Neural Circuits
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fncir.2025.1630932
This article is part of the Research TopicModularity in Motor Control: from neural networks to muscle synergiesView all articles
Volitional and forced running ability in mice lacking intact primary motor cortex
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Brain Development and Regeneration, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
- 2Laboratory of Optical Biomedical Science, Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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The coordination of various brain regions achieves both volitional and forced motor control, but the role of the primary motor cortex in proficient running motor control remains unclear. This study trained mice to run at high performance (>10,000 rotations per day or >2,700 rotations per hour) using a running wheel, and then assessed the effects of the removal of bilateral cortical areas including the primary motor cortex on volitional (self-initiated) and forced (externally driven) running locomotion. The control sham-operated group revealed a quick recovery of volitional running, reaching half of the maximum daily rotation in 3.9 +/-2.6 days (n = 10). In contrast, the cortical injury group took a significantly longer period (7.0 +/-3.3 days, n = 15, p < 0.05) to reach half of the maximum volitional daily rotation, but recovered to preoperative levels in about two weeks. Furthermore, even 3 days after surgery to remove cortical regions, the running time on a treadmill moving at 35.3 cm/sec, which is difficult for naïve mice to run on, was not significantly different from that in the sham-operated group. These results suggest that the intact primary motor cortex is not necessarily required to execute trained fast-running locomotion, but rather contributes to the spontaneity of running in mice.
Keywords: motor control, Cerebrum, running wheel, treadmill, cortical injury
Received: 18 May 2025; Accepted: 31 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abo, Ishikawa, Shinohara, Michikawa and Imayoshi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Takayuki Michikawa, Laboratory of Optical Biomedical Science, Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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