Dr. Nakanishi and colleagues developed a collection of specialized techniques to record from live mice in order to study how the nervous system encodes sensory information, processes those signals, and produces movements in living organism, all without anesthetic complications. Briefly, this set of protocols describes the animal surgery techniques that can be used to study sensory-motor integration in live, adult mice whose brain is removed.

Using this preparation, we can better understand how sensory information is collected, integrated, how we produce complex reflex patterns. We can study cardiovascular and respiratory functions, and learn more about the spinal circuits that coordinate the muscle activity for movements and walking.

Read the entire article on Nature.com.