Publications de Maria Pasquini

Fast-Spiking Interneurons of the Premotor Cortex Contribute to Initiation and Execution of Spontaneous Actions

Planning and execution of voluntary movement depend on the contribution of distinct classes of neurons in primary motor and premotor areas. However, timing and pattern of activation of GABAergic cells during specific motor behaviors remain only partly unde ...

SOC NEUROSCIENCE2023

Combining Optogenetic Stimulation and Motor Training Improves Functional Recovery and Perilesional Cortical Activity

Silvestro Micera, Francesco Saverio Pavone, Maria Pasquini

Background. An ischemic stroke is followed by the remapping of motor representation and extensive changes in cortical excitability involving both hemispheres. Although stimulation of the ipsilesional motor cortex, especially when paired with motor training ...

SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC2021

Combining robotics with enhanced serotonin-driven cortical plasticity improves post-stroke motor recovery

Marco Mainardi, Silvestro Micera, Sara Conti, Maria Pasquini, Stefano Lai

Despite recent progresses in robotic rehabilitation technologies, their efficacy for post-stroke motor recovery is still limited. Such limitations might stem from the insufficient enhancement of plasticity mechanisms, crucial for functional recovery. Here, ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2021

Experimental and Computational Study on Motor Control and Recovery After Stroke: Toward a Constructive Loop Between Experimental and Virtual Embodied Neuroscience

Auke Ijspeert, Alain Destexhe, Axel von Arnim, Marc-Oliver Gewaltig, Silvestro Micera, Emanuele Formento, Egidio Falotico, Lorenzo Vannucci, Shravan Tata Ramalingasetty, Maria Pasquini, Emmanouil Angelidis

Being able to replicate real experiments with computational simulations is a unique opportunity to refine and validate models with experimental data and redesign the experiments based on simulations. However, since it is technically demanding to model all ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2020

Combined rehabilitation promotes recovery of motor functionality in a mouse model of stroke

Silvestro Micera, Maria Pasquini

Neuro-rehabilitative research is developing novel strategies to enhance the effectiveness of therapies after stroke by using a combination of physical and plasticizing treatments 1-3. Previous studies have shown that repeated optogenetics stimulation of ne ...

SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING2019

Wide-field imaging of cortical neuronal activity with red-shifted functional indicators during motor task execution

Silvestro Micera, Francesco Saverio Pavone, Maria Pasquini

Genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) can be used to monitor the intracellular concentration of free calcium in populations of neurons. GECIs with long emission wavelengths are particularly attractive for deep tissue microscopy in vivo, and have t ...

2019

A Robotic System for Adaptive Training and Function Assessment of Forelimb Retraction in Mice

Silvestro Micera, Sara Conti, Maria Pasquini, Stefano Lai

Rodent models are decisive for translational research in healthy and pathological conditions of motor function thanks to specific similarities with humans. Here, we present an upgraded version of the M-Platform, a robotic device previously designed to trai ...

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC2018