Discharges of intracerebellar nuclear cells in monkeys.

Abstract

SUMMARY1. Conscious monkeys were trained with food rewards to perform movement tasks with the left forelimb and to accept manipulation of the joints and muscles and natural non-noxious stimulation of the skin of all four limbs.2. Recordings were made from 217 cells situated in the left interpositus and dentate nuclei of the cerebellum. The identity of seventy-seven cells as cerebellar projection neurones was definitively established by activating them antidromically from the brachium conjunctivum near the contralateral red nucleus.3. Modulation in the natural activity of 129 of these cerebellar nuclear cells (sixty in interpositus; sixty-nine in dentate) occurred in a reproducible manner in temporal association with a phase of the self-paced movement tasks performed by the animal using the ipsilateral arm and hand. The discharges during motor performance of forty-two dentate and forty-five interpositus cells were shown to be associated with movement about a particular joint or region of the forelimb whenever that movement occurred.4. Cells whose discharges were related to proximal joint movements (shoulder, elbow) and cells related to distal joint movements (wrist, fingers) were encountered in both the dentate and interposed nuclei.5. The cells were tonically active at rest. Most commonly, accelerations in the discharge were related to movement of a joint or the limb in one direction and a reduction or cessation of activity accompanied movement in the opposite direction.6. For some cells, variation of the amount of discharge demonstrated during movement performance could be related to the range of the movement or its duration, more activity being characteristic of more prolonged movement performance through larger angles of joint displacement. 7. The dentate and interpositus cells whose discharges were most strongly and consistently related to movements of the forelimb were concentrated in the mid region and caudal half of either nucleus.8. None of seventy-three dentate neurones examined showed appreciable responses to stimulation of the skin or manipulation of joints and muscles of the fore-or hind limbs and only two cells responded to unexpected perturbation of movement performance.

Patterns of activity evoked in cerebellar interpositus nuclear neurones by natural somatosensory stimuli in awake cats

“…The investigations of Armstrong & Rawson (1979a) and Harvey et al (1979), in cat and monkey respectively, indicate that some IPNs are influenced by sensory input from both forelimbs. In the former study one half of IPNs tested with electrical stimulation of ipsi-and contralateral cutaneous nerves responded to both afferent sources, whilst in the monkey four of twenty-eight movement-related IPNs responding to cutaneous testing of the operant limb were also activated by similar testing of the contralateral arm, although manipulation of joints was generally ineffective in the relaxed animal.…”

“…majority of mixed sample of IPNs and dentate neurones discharge in the range 30-50 i.p.s. : Harvey et al 1979). …”

“…Neural recordings in awake, free-to-move animals have shown IPN discharges to be modulated in temporal association with voluntary movements in the cat (Burton & Onoda, 1975, 1977Amassian, Eberle & Rudell, 1980) and monkey (Thach, 1968(Thach, , 1970(Thach, , 1978Mortimer, 1975;Harvey, Porter & Rawson, 1979). Such modulations may result from changes in peripheral (e.g.…”

Unravelling cerebellar pathways with high temporal precision targeting motor and extensive sensory and parietal networks

“…of 180 us 36 . Accordingly, high-frequency fi ring is observed in a number of neurons in the cerebellum 27,37,38 . DCN fi ring has been shown to be modulated up to around 100 Hz on average 39 , with some studies reporting maximal frequencies of 450 (ref.…”

The activity of cerebellar nuclear neurones in relation to stimuli which evoke a pectoral fin reflex in dogfish.

“…Activity has been recorded from interpositus neurones in the cat (Burton & Onoda, 1977, 1978Amassian, Eberie & Rudell, 1980;Armstrong & Rawson, 1979) and the monkey (Thach, 1968(Thach, , 1970(Thach, , 1978Harvey, Porter & Rawson, 1979) and from dentate neurones in the monkey (Thach, 1968(Thach, , 1970(Thach, , 1975(Thach, , 1978Grimm & Rushmer, 1974;Robertson & Grimm, 1975;Harvey et al 1979) and rat (Hernandez-Mesa & Bures, 1978). Recordings have also been made from fastigial and interpositus neurones in walking mesencephalic cats (Orlovosky, 1972) and from fastigial, interpositus and dentate neurones of the cat during 'fictive' movements (Antziferova, Arshavsky, Orlovsky & Pavlova, 1980;Arshavsky, Orlovsky, Pavlova & Perret, 1980).…”