Researchers study the mechanism by which brain controls involuntary oral and facial movements in a murine model study (IMAGE)

Fujita Health University

Researchers study the mechanism by which brain controls involuntary oral and facial movements in a murine model study

Caption

Orofacial movements are known to strongly correlate with brain-wide neuronal activities in mice. In a new study, researchers from Japan find that in mice undergoing reward-based training, accumbal D1 receptor-dependent and -independent neuronal signals converge in the whisker primary motor cortex (wM1) and regulate various “uninstructed” orofacial movements. These findings can have important implications in the fields of neuroscience, mental healthcare, and animal medicine. The image was illustrated by Hiroko Uchida.

Credit

Prof. Takayuki Yamashita, Associate Prof. Takashi Nakano, and Prof. Junichiro Yoshimoto from Fujita Health University. Image Source Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.07.013

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