Project C06

Circuit mechanisms interfacing adaptive motivation and motor control − Depression as a model of reversible motor control impairment

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Decreases in dopamine (DA) affect meso-accumbens and -striatal circuitry activation to drive symptoms of anhedonia and motor retardation in MDD patients. Peripheral innate immune activation shapes deficits in DA-function. As such, peripheral inflammation is discussed as a driver of midbrain DA-dysfunction resulting in disturbance of motor control and reduced motivational drive.

Motivated behavior is essential for survival, to interact with our environment, satisfy fundamental needs, and act in specific innate ways. In the context of motor control, it is therefore crucial to prompt and inform the planning of a movement and to initiate motor responses adaptively. While neural integrative activities subserving adaptive behavior motivate motor responses, the neural interface between brain circuits underlying motivation and motor systems has received relatively little attention.

That said, the current project phase serves three aims (1) to scrutinize the intersection of motor control with motivation, (2) to consider motor impairment (psychomotor retardation) in depression as a model to delineate independent components of motivated motor behavior (programming, execution, and adaptation) and (3) to examine the modulating effects of physiological effectors, hence affecting motor control in an adaptive fashion.

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