Complete and Partial Lesions of the Pyramidal Tract in the Rat Affect Qualitative Measures of Skilled Movements: Impairment in Fixations as a Model for Clumsy Behavior

Little is known about prenatal and perinatal brain injury resulting in subsequent clumsy behavior in children. One candidate motor system is the pyramidal tract. The tract traverses the entire central nervous system and, through direct and indirect connections to the brainstem and spinal cord sensor...

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Main Authors: Ian Q. Whishaw, Dionne M. Piecharka, Felicia R. Drever
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2003-01-01
Series:Neural Plasticity
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/NP.2003.77
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author Ian Q. Whishaw
Dionne M. Piecharka
Felicia R. Drever
author_facet Ian Q. Whishaw
Dionne M. Piecharka
Felicia R. Drever
author_sort Ian Q. Whishaw
collection DOAJ
description Little is known about prenatal and perinatal brain injury resulting in subsequent clumsy behavior in children. One candidate motor system is the pyramidal tract. The tract traverses the entire central nervous system and, through direct and indirect connections to the brainstem and spinal cord sensory and motor nuclei, is involved in the learning and execution of skilled movements. Here, rats, either naive or pretrained on a number of motor tasks, were assessed for acute and chronic impairments following complete or incomplete pyramidal tract lesions. Postsurgery rats with complete lesions were impaired on the qualitative measures of limb aiming, supination, and posture. Impaired movements require fixations, complementary movements in different body segments. The impairment in fixations was manifest acutely and underwent no improvement with subsequent training/testing. The finding that complete and partial pyramidal tract lesions produce chronic impairment in fixations provides insight for understanding clumsy behavior in humans and its potential remediation via specific training in making fixations.
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spelling doaj-art-05e6a125a6934563ae6bfbcfb17abd5b2025-02-03T01:27:13ZengWileyNeural Plasticity2090-59041687-54432003-01-01101-2779210.1155/NP.2003.77Complete and Partial Lesions of the Pyramidal Tract in the Rat Affect Qualitative Measures of Skilled Movements: Impairment in Fixations as a Model for Clumsy BehaviorIan Q. Whishaw0Dionne M. Piecharka1Felicia R. Drever2Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, CanadaDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, CanadaDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, CanadaLittle is known about prenatal and perinatal brain injury resulting in subsequent clumsy behavior in children. One candidate motor system is the pyramidal tract. The tract traverses the entire central nervous system and, through direct and indirect connections to the brainstem and spinal cord sensory and motor nuclei, is involved in the learning and execution of skilled movements. Here, rats, either naive or pretrained on a number of motor tasks, were assessed for acute and chronic impairments following complete or incomplete pyramidal tract lesions. Postsurgery rats with complete lesions were impaired on the qualitative measures of limb aiming, supination, and posture. Impaired movements require fixations, complementary movements in different body segments. The impairment in fixations was manifest acutely and underwent no improvement with subsequent training/testing. The finding that complete and partial pyramidal tract lesions produce chronic impairment in fixations provides insight for understanding clumsy behavior in humans and its potential remediation via specific training in making fixations.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/NP.2003.77
spellingShingle Ian Q. Whishaw
Dionne M. Piecharka
Felicia R. Drever
Complete and Partial Lesions of the Pyramidal Tract in the Rat Affect Qualitative Measures of Skilled Movements: Impairment in Fixations as a Model for Clumsy Behavior
Neural Plasticity
title Complete and Partial Lesions of the Pyramidal Tract in the Rat Affect Qualitative Measures of Skilled Movements: Impairment in Fixations as a Model for Clumsy Behavior
title_full Complete and Partial Lesions of the Pyramidal Tract in the Rat Affect Qualitative Measures of Skilled Movements: Impairment in Fixations as a Model for Clumsy Behavior
title_fullStr Complete and Partial Lesions of the Pyramidal Tract in the Rat Affect Qualitative Measures of Skilled Movements: Impairment in Fixations as a Model for Clumsy Behavior
title_full_unstemmed Complete and Partial Lesions of the Pyramidal Tract in the Rat Affect Qualitative Measures of Skilled Movements: Impairment in Fixations as a Model for Clumsy Behavior
title_short Complete and Partial Lesions of the Pyramidal Tract in the Rat Affect Qualitative Measures of Skilled Movements: Impairment in Fixations as a Model for Clumsy Behavior
title_sort complete and partial lesions of the pyramidal tract in the rat affect qualitative measures of skilled movements impairment in fixations as a model for clumsy behavior
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/NP.2003.77
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