Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
13
pubmed:dateCreated
2008-3-27
pubmed:abstractText
The biomechanics of a motor plant constrain the behavioral strategies that an animal has available to extract information from its environment. We used the rat vibrissa system as a model for active sensing and determined the pattern of muscle activity that drives rhythmic exploratory whisking. Our approach made use of electromyography to measure the activation of all relevant muscles in both head-fixed and unrestrained rats and two-dimensional imaging to monitor the position of the vibrissae in head-fixed rats. Our essential finding is that the periodic motion of the vibrissae and mystacial pad during whisking results from three phases of muscle activity. First, the vibrissae are thrust forward as the rostral extrinsic muscle, musculus (m.) nasalis, contracts to pull the pad and initiate protraction. Second, late in protraction, the intrinsic muscles pivot the vibrissae farther forward. Third, retraction involves the cessation of m. nasalis and intrinsic muscle activity and the contraction of the caudal extrinsic muscles m. nasolabialis and m. maxillolabialis to pull the pad and the vibrissae backward. We developed a biomechanical model of the whisking motor plant that incorporates the measured muscular mechanics along with movement vectors observed from direct muscle stimulation in anesthetized rats. The results of simulations of the model quantify how the combination of extrinsic and intrinsic muscle activity leads to an enhanced range of vibrissa motion than would be available from the intrinsic muscles alone.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Mar
pubmed:issn
1529-2401
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:day
26
pubmed:volume
28
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
3438-55
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Animals, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Behavior, Animal, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Biomechanics, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Computer Simulation, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Conditioning, Operant, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Electric Stimulation, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Electromyography, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Exploratory Behavior, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Facial Muscles, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Female, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Models, Biological, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Movement, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Neural Pathways, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Periodicity, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Psychomotor Performance, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Rats, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Rats, Long-Evans, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Reaction Time, pubmed-meshheading:18367610-Vibrissae
pubmed:year
2008
pubmed:articleTitle
Biomechanics of the vibrissa motor plant in rat: rhythmic whisking consists of triphasic neuromuscular activity.
pubmed:affiliation
Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural