Connections between utricular nerve and neck flexor motoneurons of decerebrate cats

1994 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Ikegami ◽  
M. Sasaki ◽  
Y. Uchino
Keyword(s):  
Utricular Nerve ◽  
Decerebrate Cats

Single-Unit Responses in the Inferior Colliculus of Decerebrate Cats II. Sensitivity to Interaural Level Differences

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Davis ◽  
Ramnarayan Ramachandran ◽  
Bradford J. May
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Response ◽  
Inferior Colliculus ◽  
Free Field ◽  
Central Nucleus ◽  
Type I ◽  
Discharge Rates ◽  
Ipsilateral Stimulation ◽  
Interaural Level Differences ◽  
Type V ◽  
Decerebrate Cats

Single units in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) of unanesthetized decerebrate cats can be grouped into three distinct types (V, I, and O) according to the patterns of excitation and inhibition revealed in contralateral frequency response maps. This study extends the description of these response types by assessing their ipsilateral and binaural response map properties. Here the nature of ipsilateral inputs is evaluated directly using frequency response maps and compared with results obtained from methods that rely on sensitivity to interaural level differences (ILDs). In general, there is a one-to-one correspondence between observed ipsilateral input characteristics and those inferred from ILD manipulations. Type V units receive ipsilateral excitation and show binaural facilitation (EE properties); type I and type O units receive ipsilateral inhibition and show binaural excitatory/inhibitory (EI) interactions. Analyses of binaural frequency response maps show that these ILD effects extend over the entire receptive field of ICC units. Thus the range of frequencies that elicits excitation from type V units is expanded with increasing levels of ipsilateral stimulation, whereas the excitatory bandwidth of type I and O units decreases under the same binaural conditions. For the majority of ICC units, application of bicuculline, an antagonist for GABAA-mediated inhibition, does not alter the basic effects of binaural stimulation; rather, it primarily increases spontaneous and maximum discharge rates. These results support our previous interpretations of the putative dominant inputs to ICC response types and have important implications for midbrain processing of competing free-field sounds that reach the listener with different directional signatures.

Botzinger complex region role in phrenic-to-phrenic inhibitory reflex of cat

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1364-1370 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Speck
Keyword(s):  
Nerve Stimulation ◽  
Phrenic Nerve ◽  
Inhibitory Response ◽  
Phrenic Nerve Stimulation ◽  
Bötzinger Complex ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Bilateral Lesions ◽  
Decerebrate Cats ◽  
Inhibitory Reflex

Neuronal recordings, microstimulation, and electrolytic and chemical lesions were used to examine the involvement of the Botzinger Complex (BotC) in the bilateral phrenic-to-phrenic inhibitory reflex. Experiments were conducted in decerebrate cats that were paralyzed, ventilated, thoracotomized, and vagotomized. Microelectrode recordings within the BotC region revealed that some neurons were activated by phrenic nerve stimulation (15 of 69 expiratory units, 9 of 67 inspiratory units, and 19 nonrespiratory-modulated units) at average latencies similar to the onset latency of the phrenic-to-phrenic inhibition. In addition, microstimulation within the BotC caused a short latency transient inhibition of phrenic motor activity. In 17 cats phrenic neurogram responses to threshold and supramaximal (15 mA) stimulation of phrenic nerve afferents were recorded before and after electrolytic BotC lesions. In 15 animals the inhibitory reflex was attenuated by bilateral lesions. Because lesion of either BotC neurons or axons of passage could account for this attenuation, in eight experiments the phrenic-to-phrenic inhibitory responses were recorded before and after bilateral injections of 5 microM kainic acid (30–150 nl) into the BotC. After chemical lesions, the inhibitory response to phrenic nerve stimulation remained; however, neuronal activity typical of the BotC could not be located. These results suggest that axons important in producing the phrenic-to-phrenic reflex pass through the region of the BotC, but that BotC neurons themselves are not necessary for this reflex.

Physiological Properties of Late Inspiratory Neurons and Their Possible Involvement in Inspiratory Off-Switching in Cats

2002 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 1057-1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Haji ◽  
Mari Okazaki ◽  
Hiromi Yamazaki ◽  
Ryuji Takeda
Keyword(s):  
Nmda Receptors ◽  
Gaba Release ◽  
Membrane Depolarization ◽  
Inhibitory Neurons ◽  
Acid Decarboxylase ◽  
Postsynaptic Potentials ◽  
Inspiratory Neurons ◽  
Small Constant ◽  
Physiological Properties ◽  
Decerebrate Cats

To assess the functional significance of late inspiratory (late-I) neurons in inspiratory off-switching (IOS), membrane potential and discharge properties were examined in vagotomized, decerebrate cats. During spontaneous IOS, late-I neurons displayed large membrane depolarization and associated discharge of action potentials that started in late inspiration, peaked at the end of inspiration, and ended during postinspiration. Depolarization was decreased by iontophoresis of dizocilpine and eliminated by tetrodotoxin. Stimulation of the vagus nerve or the nucleus parabrachialis medialis (NPBM) also evoked depolarization of late-I neurons and IOS. Waves of spontaneous chloride-dependent inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) preceded membrane depolarization during early inspiration and followed during postinspiration and stage 2 expiration of the respiratory cycle. Iontophoresed bicuculline depressed the IPSPs. Intravenous dizocilpine caused a greatly prolonged inspiratory discharge of the phrenic nerve (apneusis) and suppressed late-inspiratory depolarization as well as early-inspiratory IPSPs, resulting in a small constant depolarization throughout the apneusis. NPBM or vagal stimulation after dizocilpine produced small, stimulus-locked excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in late-I neurons. Neurobiotin-labeled late-I neurons revealed immunoreactivity for glutamic acid decarboxylase as well as N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. These results suggest that late-I neurons are GABAergic inhibitory neurons, while the effects of bicuculline and dizocilpine indicate that they receive periodic waves of GABAergic IPSPs and glutamatergic EPSPs. The data lead to the conclusion that late-I neurons play an important inhibitory role in IOS. NMDA receptors are assumed to augment and/or synchronize late-inspiratory depolarization and discharge of late-I neurons, leading to GABA release and consequently off-switching of bulbar inspiratory neurons and phrenic motoneurons.

Induction of Rhythmic Activity by Harmaline

1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 905-908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Lamarre ◽  
E. Puil
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Inferior Olive ◽  
Rhythmic Activity ◽  
Multiunit Activity ◽  
Strong Excitation ◽  
Decerebrate Cats

Microiontophoretic application of harmaline evoked rhythmic multiunit activity in the inferior olive of decerebrate cats. Harmaline caused strong excitation of individual olivary neurones but did not seem to cause them to discharge in high frequency bursts. These effects suggest that the tremorgenic action of harmaline may be due to an exaggeration of the normal tendency of olivary neurones to fire rhythmically in multiunit bursts.

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