Nov 08 2011

Dr. Isaac Kurtzer published in ‘Nature’

Dr. Isaac Kurtzer’s paper entitled 'Primary motor cortex underlies multi-joint integration for fast feedback control' has been featured in this week's press release for Nature. Dr. Kurtzer is an assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience/Histology. 
The article is available at the journal's site: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature10436


Neuroscience: Quick-thinking neurons control limb movement (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10436

The source of neural commands that respond to and control limb movements is identified in research in monkeys and humans, published in Nature this week. These commands can prevent joint displacements.

In animals with multi-joint limbs, a difficult problem that the nervous system has to solve is how to interpret and respond correctly to sensory input induced by complex combinations of limb movements. Stephen Scott and colleagues demonstrate that the nervous system reacts to elbow and shoulder movements by generating reflexive motor commands that appropriately counter the underlying force. The authors find that these commands, which produce responses within around 50 milliseconds, are represented in neurons in the primary motor cortex (M1) of monkeys. Moreover, they use transcranial magnetic stimulation to establish a causal role for M1 in fast multi-joint integration during reflex generation in humans.

Primary motor cortex underlies multi-joint integration for fast feedback control
J. Andrew Pruszynski1*, Isaac Kurtzer1,5*, Joseph Y. Nashed1,
Mohsen Omrani1, Brenda Brouwer1,2, and Stephen H. Scott1-4

1Centre for Neuroscience Studies, 2School of Rehabilitation Therapy, 3Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, 4Department of Medicine. Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

5Department of Neuroscience and Histology, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, New York, United States of America

*These authors contributed equally to this work.