The motor control

system
Overview
 The Motor system 1
• Cortex
• The Corticospinal tract
• Alpha motor neuron
• Muscles
 Motor Control
Motor Cortex
UMN

Corticospinal
Alpha motor tract (UMN)
neuron
axon, LMN Alpha motor
neuron,
LMN
Muscle
Four Hierarchical Components that
Control Movements
• Motor systems consist of separate neural
circuits that are linked.
• Ultimately, whether directly or indirectly
distributed, all motor processing is focused
on a single target ‘the motor neuron’
constituting the ‘final common pathway’ of
motor system.
Four Hierarchical Components that
Control Movements
 Spinal cord
 Brainstem
 Subcortical (basal nuclei, thalamus,
cerebellum)
 Cortical –(primary motor cortex, premotor
and supplementary motor areas)
 Motor system 2
• Cortex
• corticospinal tract
• Alpha motor neuron
• Muscles

• Two control circuits that influence

the activity of corticospinal tract
– Cerebellum
– Basal Ganglia
 Motor system 2
two control circuits
 Motor system 3
• Cortex
• corticospinal tract
• Alpha motor neuron
• Muscles
• + two control circuits influence the corticospinal tract
• Cerebellum and BG
• The Indirect brainstem motor control
centers and pathways which tonically
activate the Lower Motor Neurons
especially those that innervate the Axial
and Antigravity muscles
Motor system 3
 Upper Motor Neuron
• The corticospinal tract has its main influence on
LMN that innervate the muscles of the distal
extremities, i.e., the hand and the foot
• The corticospinal tract has collaterals that
modulate the control of indirect brainstem motor
centers, so that we are not as a statue opposing
gravity and can move at will and have the right
amount of supporting tone
• When there is lesion of UMN, clinical findings
are a combination of both direct + indirect effects
 Premotor and
supplementary motor Figur
areas
Cortical e
level 8.24
Sensory
areas of Primary motor cortex Page
cortex 285
Subcortical
level
Basal
nuclei Thalamus Cerebellum

Brain stem Brain stem

level
nuclei

Spinal cord
level Afferent Motor
neuron
terminals neurons

Muscle
fibers

Periphery
Movement
“To move things is all that mankind can do…
for such the sole executant is muscle,
whether in whispering a syllable or in felling
a forest”.. Charles Sherrington

• The spinal cord contains certain motor

programs for the generation of
coordinated movements and that these
programs are accessed, executed, and
modified by descending commands from
the brain.
 Types of Movements
• Involuntary motor acts
– Reflex: the most automatic behaviors (such
as reflexes-organized at spinal cord level)

• Voluntary motor acts

– The maintenance of position (posture)
– Goal directed movements- skilled voluntary
movements- organized at higher centers
 Somatic musculature in relation to
the joint they act on
• Axial muscles:
– For movements of the trunk
• Proximal muscles (or girdle muscles)
– For movements of the shoulder, elbow, pelvis
and knee
• Distal muscles
– That move the hands, feet, and digits (fingers
and toes)
Important aspects of hierarchical
organization:
• Somatotopic maps – preserved in
interconnections at different levels
• each hierarchical level receives
information from periphery so that sensory
input can modify the action of descending
commands
• The higher levels have capacity to control
the information that reaches them,
allowing or suppressing the transmission
of afferent volleys through sensory relays.
Important aspects of hierarchical
organization:
• The various motor control levels are also
organized in parallel: so that each level
can act independently on the final
common pathway.
• This allows commands from higher levels
either to modify or to supersede lower
order reflex behavior.
Upper Motor Neuron Lesion
UMNL  loss of direct effect of UMN
UMNL  loss of indirect effect of UMN
UMNL is a combination of
Loss of regulation
of indirect
brainstem motor
control centers

Loss of direct
CST control
of LM
neurons
 Upper Motor Neuron Lesion
• Loss of distal extremity strength Loss of
• Loss of distal extremity dexterity direct
• Babinski sign effect

• Increased tone
Loss of
• Hyperreflexia
indirect
• Clasp-knife phenomenon effect
UMNL on opposite side of clinical findings if
lesion is above the decussation
 UMNL on same side of clinical findings if
lesion in the spinal cord after decussation
 Figure 9: The brain of a
recovered stroke patient relies
on a compensatory neural
pathway (dark blue) as
substitution for the damaged
neuralpathway (blue dashed).
The cerebello-thalamo -cortical
pathway (green) is “teaching” the
supplementary motor area its
new function, which is indicated
by abnormal activity in the
cerebellum and thalamus.
(Freely adapted from Azari &
Seitz, 2000)