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Stop Animal
Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe
out animal experimentation"
Government Grants Promoting Cruelty to Animals
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
W THOMAS THACH - Primate Testing - 2006
Grant Number: 5R01NS012777-28
Project Title: Neural Control Of Trained Movement
PI Information: PROFESSOR OF NEUROBIOLOGY & NEUROLOGY
W THOMAS THACH, thachw@pcg.wustl.edu
Abstract: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant):
MAJOR GOALS are to study the roles of the cerebellum and basal ganglia
in adapting, learning and storing adjustments of eye-hand coordination.
Gaze will be perturbed with laterally displacing prisms (project #1) and
with shift of the visual target (project #2 ) to see how monkeys adjust
their reaching to visual targets. Two types of adjustment are
distinguished, leaming and adaptation. In leaning, a monkey stores two
gaze-reach calibrations, and can call each up immediately if it knows
each condition. In adaptation, there is only one stored gaze-reach
calibration, which must be adjusted back and forth by practice. Project
# 1 examines whether the cerebellum and basal ganglia are both necessary
for storing learned gaze-reach calibrations. Monkeys will have two
gaze-reach calibrations: 1) reaching to and touching a visual target
without prisms, in which eyes and reach are aligned, and 2) learned
reaching to and touching a visual target with prisms, in which eyes and
reach are divergent. Neurons in cerebellar cortex, deep nuclei, and
globus pallidus pars interna will be recorded from then inactivated to
see if the learned gaze-reach adjustment is abolished. Project # 2 asks
how the cerebellar cortex, inferior olive, and parvocellular red nucleus
are involved in adapting and learning to touch a visual target that has
shifted in mid-reach. At the start of each block of adaptation shift
trials, the visual target will shift mid-reach in a novel direction, and
continue each trial to shift in that direction for the rest of the
block. The monkey must adapt in order to touch the target at its shifted
novel location. Then the monkey will have a block of no-shift trials,
and must then dis-adapt in order to hit the target where it initially
appears. During learning shift trials, the target will shift in a
direction that is fixed and therefore predictable throughout the block
and all such blocks of trials. The monkey will be informed that this is
the learned shift condition and thus can learn it, in addition to the
no-shift condition. This project focuses on the problem of how subjects
adapt and learn when knowledge of results is delayed after the movement.
Recording Purkinje cell firing and recording from and inactivating
neurons of the parvocellular red nucleus will help to understand their
involvement.
Thesaurus Terms:
body movement, cerebellum, learning, neuromuscular function,
neuroregulation
basal ganglia, cerebellar Purkinje cell, cerebellar cortex, eye
movement, head movement, limb movement, neural transmission, visual
stimulus
Macaca mulatta, electrocardiography, electromyography,
electrophysiology, oximetry
Institution: WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
1 BROOKINGS DR, CAMPUS BOX 1054
SAINT LOUIS, MO 631304899
Fiscal Year: 2006
Department: ANATOMY AND NEUROBIOLOGY
Project Start: 01-SEP-1977
Project End: 31-MAY-2008
ICD: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE
IRG: IFCN
J Neurophysiol 92: 1867-1879, 2004
Purkinje Cell Spike Firing in the Posterolateral
Cerebellum: Correlation With Visual Stimulus, Oculomotor Response, and
Error Feedback
Scott A. Norris, Bradley Greger, Emily N. Hathaway and W. Thomas Thach
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of
Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
Submitted 22 January 2003; accepted in final form 28 April 2004
Setup
Two male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) each performed a visually
guided reach task. All surgical and experimental procedures were in
accordance with National Institutes of Health and U. S. Department of
Agriculture guidelines and were approved by the Animal Studies Committee
at Washington University School of Medicine under Protocols 98081 and
20010036. The monkeys sat in a custom-built primate chair that
restrained the head and allowed free movement of both arms. Two
capacitance switches were fixed on the chair so that the monkey's arms
were positioned by its side when its hands were on the switches. A 15-in
touch-sensitive video monitor was positioned vertically 20 cm from the
monkey's eyes to present a visual target dot and register the monkey's
touch response. A 10 x 10-mm white box continuously appeared in one of
the upper corners of the screen to indicate the respective reach hand.
Behavioral task
Figure 1 shows the reach task. At the onset of a trial, the monkey held
both its hands on capacitance switches for a random initial hold time
(500–1,000 ms). A red target dot, 6 mm in diameter, appeared on the
video screen. The monkey was required to gaze to, reach, and touch the
target. Once the monkey began its reach, it had 300 ms to touch the
screen with the instructed hand. When the monkey touched the screen, a
white dot 6 mm in diameter appeared on the screen at the location of
touch, and the red target dot remained. The monkey then had 400 ms to
return the reach hand back to the correct capacitance switch. A final
random hold time (500–1,500 ms) was required before the monkey received
a liquid reward for a correct trial. The interval between reward and the
beginning of the next trial's initial hold period was randomized (1–2
s).
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Please email: W THOMAS THACH,
thachw@pcg.wustl.edu to protest the inhumane use of animals in this
experiment. We would also love to know about your efforts with this
cause:
saen@saenonline.org
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Rats, mice, birds, amphibians and other animals have
been excluded from coverage by the Animal Welfare Act. Therefore research
facility reports do not include these animals. As a result of this
situation, a blank report, or one with few animals listed, does not mean
that a facility has not performed experiments on non-reportable animals. A
blank form does mean that the facility in question has not used covered
animals (primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, pigs,
sheep, goats, etc.). Rats and mice alone are believed to comprise over 90%
of the animals used in experimentation. Therefore the majority of animals
used at research facilities are not even counted.
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