A novel behavioral paradigm using mice to study predictive postural control.

Postural control circuitry performs the essential function of maintaining balance and body position in response to perturbations that are either self-generated (e.g. reaching to pick up an object) or externally delivered (e.g. being pushed by another person). Human studies have shown that anticipation of predictable postural disturbances can modulate such responses. This indicates that postural control could involve higher-level neural structures associated with predictive functions, rather than being purely reactive. However, the underlying neural circuitry remains largely unknown. To enable studies of predictive postural control circuits, we developed a novel task for mice . In this task, modeled after human studies, a dynamic platform generated reproducible translational perturbations. While mice stood bipedally atop a perch to receive water rewards, they experienced backward translations that were either unpredictable or preceded by an auditory cue. To validate the task, we investigated the effect of the auditory cue on postural responses to perturbations across multiple days in three mice. These preliminary results serve to validate a new postural control model, opening the door to the types of neural recordings and circuit manipulations that are currently possible only in mice.