Dynamics of the Cortico-Cerebellar Loop Fine-Tune Dexterous Movement

Abstract

Skillful control of movement requires coordination between brain areas that are reciprocally connected through polysynaptic pathways, forming closed loops. A prominent loop in mammals runs between cerebral cortex and cerebellum, which individually contribute to skilled arm control. But how and why do these regions interact? Here, we studied the mouse cortico-cerebellar loop by optogenetically perturbing the pontine nuclei (PN), which receive direct cortical inputs and project only to cerebellum. PN stimulation during rest propagated into cerebellar cortex, but the effect of stimulation was transformed downstream into a wide range of patterns in the deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) and reduced to transient excitation in motor cortex. PN stimulation in a cued reaching task altered arm kinematics and impaired performance. Cerebellar and cortical dynamics during movement were not dominated by PN stimulation, but altered in line with behavioral changes. These results suggest that the cortico-cerebellar loop fine-tunes motor commands during skilled reaching.