Blumberg Lab Videos
Twitching in an 8-day-old rat
Five clips are shown: (i) 18 seconds of real-time twitching; (ii) a discrete twitch, in slow motion, comprising extension of the left elbow; (iii) a discrete twitch, in slow motion, comprising abduction of the right shoulder; (iv) an example, in slow motion, of a homologous twitch pattern comprising right shoulder adduction followed quickly by left shoulder adduction; and (v) an example, in slow motion, of a complex multi-joint twitch pattern comprising several movements across both forelimbs. The white dots are fluorescent paint for motion tracking of joint movements. All videos were recorded at 250 frames per second.
From: Blumberg, M. S., Coleman, C. M., Gerth, A. I., & McMurray, B. Spatiotemporal structure of REM sleep twitching reveals developmental origins of motor synergies. Current Biology, 23, 2100-2109, 2013.
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Primary motor cortex (M1) multiunit activity in relation to hindlimb movements in a 10-day-old rat
In each clip, the left hindlimb is closest to the viewer and the multiunit activity, depicted at the bottom, was recorded from the contralateral (i.e., right) M1. Eight clips are shown: (i) manual stimulation of the hindlimb contralateral to M1; (ii) manual stimulation of the hindlimb ipsilateral to M1; (iii) spontaneous myoclonic twitching during active sleep in real-time; (iv) spontaneous myoclonic twitching during active sleep in slow motion; (v) spontaneous wake movements; (vi) hindlimb movements evoked by systemic administration of quipazine; (vii) hindlimb movements evoked by generalized arousal produced by application of a cold stimulus to the pup's snout; and (viii) hindlimb movements evoked reflexively by flicking the tail. All videos were recorded at 30 frames per second.
From: Tiriac, A., Del Rio-Bermudez, C., & Blumberg, M. S. Self-generated movements with "unexpected" sensory consequences. Current Biology, 24, 2136-2141, 2014.
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A representative aonist-antagonist twitch pair in a 10-day-old wild-type mouse
A twitch pair comprising a shoulder abduction followed by a shoulder adduction is shown in two successive clips at two speeds: at 1/40th real time and at 1/4th real time. As shown, the left forelimb begins at a resting position, exhibits a shoulder abduction followed immediately by a shoulder adduction, and then returns to the resting position.
From: Blumberg, M. S., Coleman, C. M., Sokoloff, G., Weiner, J. A., Fritzsch, B., & McMurray, B. Development of twitching in sleeping infant mice depends on sensory experience. Current Biology, 25, 656-662, 2015.
Whisker twitching in 4-day-old rats
Sample video clips of individual, dual, and multiple whisker twitches are shown, as is an example of a mystacial pad movement. See Figure 1A to orient the whiskers on the snout and to identify each of the 11 whiskers and Figure 1B for the associated quiver plots. Each clip was recorded at 200 frames/s and is played back at 50 frames/s. The white light in the lower-right-hand corner indicates that the experimenter observed twitching of the distal limbs or tail, indicative of active sleep. Note that these clips only show those 11 whiskers that were monitored in these tests.
From: Tiriac, A., Uitermarkt, B. D., Fanning, A. S., Sokoloff, G., & Blumberg, M. S. Rapid whisker movements in sleeping newborn rats. Current Biology, 22, 2075-2080, 2012.
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Voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging of barrel cortex in a 4-day-old rat during active sleep
Two clips (separated by black frames) illustrate different patterns of barrel cortex activation. The first clip comprises 62 frames (124 ms duration) and the second clip comprises 55 frames (110 ms duration). The two clips illustrate the varied patterns of barrel cortex activation observed during active sleep, from global activity across multiple barrels to isolated activity in a single barrel. For both clips, the range of dF/F0 spanned 0.1% to 0.3%.
From: Tiriac, A., Uitermarkt, B. D., Fanning, A. S., Sokoloff, G., & Blumberg, M. S. Rapid whisker movements in sleeping newborn rats. Current Biology, 22, 2075-2080, 2012.
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