# Proprioceptive Coding of Jaw Movement during Orofacial Behavior

> **NIH NIH F32** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $70,310

## Abstract

Project Summary
Integration of sensory information with motor commands allows movement to be adaptable. For example,
many survival-critical orofacial behaviors (chewing, drinking, breathing, etc.) involve updating movement
trajectories based on interaction with objects (e.g. matching chewing patterns to food material properties).
Proprioceptors, which are sensory afferents that provide information about body position, likely play critical
roles in this process. However, given that most past recording of proprioceptors was not performed in awake
animals, a clear understanding of proprioceptor movement coding in the awake context is lacking. This project
will target and record from mouse jaw-innervating proprioceptors (which lie in the hindbrain mesencephalic
trigeminal (MeV) nucleus) during orofacial behavior and test their functional role. Aim 1 will characterize the
functional organization of mouse MeV afferents while developing genetic tools for targeting this population. Aim
2 will record from MeV neurons in behaving animals during high-resolution movement tracking. Using this
dataset, a systematic quantitative model will be built for MeV neuron activity during voluntary orofacial
behavior. Aim 3 will perturb MeV neuron activity to understand the functional role of MeV neurons in orofacial
behavior. Completion of this project will involve high-level training in in vivo physiology, behavioral analysis,
and systems/computational techniques. This training will draw upon a rich environment for neural circuit and
systems research, especially based on the expertise in sensory and motor systems neuroscience in the labs of
the Sponsor and Co-Sponsor. Collectively, the proposed project will define the information coding properties of
proprioceptors during orofacial movement as well as probe the functional role of this information during
behavior. These results could inform strategies for treatment of jaw motor problems seen in the clinic (i.e.
denture-wearing patients, temporomandibular joint disorders, etc.). More broadly, this work can provide novel
insights into the role of proprioceptive information in motor control, which has wide-ranging implications for the
fundamental understanding of movement in healthy and pathological contexts.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9982691
- **Project number:** 5F32MH120873-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** William Paul Olson
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $70,310
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9982691

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9982691, Proprioceptive Coding of Jaw Movement during Orofacial Behavior (5F32MH120873-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9982691. Licensed CC0.

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