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Locomotor circuitries

How the brain plays musical statues

Activating a specific subpopulation of glutamatergic neurons in the brainstem issues a motor command for global motor arrest. This motor arrest is distinct from defensive freezing and has a striking pause-and-play pattern accompanied by a reduction in respiration and heart rate.

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Fig. 1: Activation of Chx10 neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus causes global motor arrest.

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Correspondence to Tiago Branco.

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Lefler, Y., Branco, T. How the brain plays musical statues. Nat Neurosci 26, 1482–1484 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01400-w

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