Functional organization of the vestibular afferents to the cerebellar cortex of frog and cat

1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Precht ◽  
R. Llin�s
2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 248-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fidel Santamaria ◽  
Patrick G. Tripp ◽  
James M. Bower

Synapses associated with the parallel fiber (pf) axons of cerebellar granule cells constitute the largest excitatory input onto Purkinje cells (PCs). Although most theories of cerebellar function assume these synapses produce an excitatory sequential “beamlike” activation of PCs, numerous physiological studies have failed to find such beams. Using a computer model of the cerebellar cortex we predicted that the lack of PCs beams is explained by the concomitant pf activation of feedforward molecular layer inhibition. This prediction was tested, in vivo, by recording PCs sharing a common set of pfs before and after pharmacologically blocking inhibitory inputs. As predicted by the model, pf-induced beams of excitatory PC responses were seen only when inhibition was blocked. Blocking inhibition did not have a significant effect in the excitability of the cerebellar cortex. We conclude that pfs work in concert with feedforward cortical inhibition to regulate the excitability of the PC dendrite without directly influencing PC spiking output. This conclusion requires a significant reassessment of classical interpretations of the functional organization of the cerebellar cortex.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 2401-2417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Guell ◽  
Anila M D’Mello ◽  
Nicholas A Hubbard ◽  
Rachel R Romeo ◽  
John D E Gabrieli ◽  
...  

Abstract Anatomical connections link the cerebellar cortex with multiple sensory, motor, association, and paralimbic cerebral areas. The majority of fibers that exit cerebellar cortex synapse in dentate nuclei (DN) before reaching extracerebellar structures such as cerebral cortex, but the functional neuroanatomy of human DN remains largely unmapped. Neuroimaging research has redefined broad categories of functional division in the human brain showing that primary processing, attentional (task positive) processing, and default-mode (task negative) processing are three central poles of neural macroscale functional organization. This broad spectrum of human neural processing categories is represented not only in the cerebral cortex, but also in the thalamus, striatum, and cerebellar cortex. Whether functional organization in DN obeys a similar set of macroscale divisions, and whether DN are yet another compartment of representation of a broad spectrum of human neural processing categories, remains unknown. Here, we show for the first time that human DN are optimally divided into three functional territories as indexed by high spatio-temporal resolution resting-state MRI in 77 healthy humans, and that these three distinct territories contribute uniquely to default-mode, salience-motor, and visual cerebral cortical networks. Our findings provide a systems neuroscience substrate for cerebellar output to influence multiple broad categories of neural control.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Guell ◽  
Anila M D’Mello ◽  
Nicholas A Hubbard ◽  
Rachel R Romeo ◽  
John DE Gabrieli ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTAnatomical connections link the cerebellar cortex with multiple distinct sensory, motor, association, and paralimbic areas of the cerebrum. These projections allow a topographically precise cerebellar modulation of multiple domains of neurological function, and underscore the relevance of the cerebellum for the pathophysiology of numerous disorders in neurology and psychiatry. The majority of fibers that exit the cerebellar cortex synapse in the dentate nuclei (DN) before reaching extracerebellar structures such as cerebral cortex. Although the DN have a central position in the anatomy of the cerebello-cerebral circuits, the functional neuroanatomy of human DN remains largely unmapped. Neuroimaging research has redefined broad categories of functional division in the human brain showing that primary processing, attentional (task positive) processing, and default-mode (task negative) processing are three central poles of neural macro-scale functional organization. This new macro-scale understanding of the range and poles of brain function has revealed that a broad spectrum of human neural processing categories (primary, task positive, task negative) is represented not only in the cerebral cortex, but also in the thalamus, striatum, and cerebellar cortex. Whether functional organization in DN obeys a similar set of macroscale divisions, and whether DN are yet another compartment of representation of a broad spectrum of human neural processing categories, remains unknown. Here we show for the first time that human DN is optimally divided into three functional territories as indexed by high spatio-temporal resolution resting-state MRI in 60 healthy adolescents, and that these three distinct territories contribute uniquely to default-mode, salience-motor, and visual brain networks. These conclusions are supported by novel analytical strategies in human studies of DN organization, including 64-channel MRI imaging, data-driven methods, and replication in an independent sample. Our findings provide a systems neuroscience substrate for cerebellar output to influence multiple broad categories of neural control - namely default- mode, attentional, and multiple unimodal streams of information processing including motor and visual. They also provide a validated data-driven mapping of functions in human DN, crucial for the design of methodology and interpretation of results in future neuroimaging studies of brain function and dysfunction.


2000 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 1932-1940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Cohen ◽  
Yosef Yarom

Optical imaging of voltage-sensitive dyes in an isolated cerebellum preparation was used to study the spatiotemporal functional organization of the inhibitory systems in the cerebellar cortex. Responses to surface stimulation of the cortex reveal two physiologically distinct inhibitory systems, which we refer to as lateral and on-beam inhibition following classical terminology. Lateral inhibition occurs throughout the area responding to a stimulus, whereas on-beam inhibition is confined to the area directly excited by parallel fibers. The time course of the lateral inhibition is twice as long as that of the on-beam inhibition. Both inhibitory responses increase with stimulus intensity, but the lateral inhibition has a lower threshold, and it saturates at lower stimulus intensity. The amplitude of the on-beam inhibition is linearly related to the excitation at the same location, whereas that of the lateral inhibition is linearly related to the excitation at the center of the beam. Repetitive stimulation is required to activate on-beam inhibition, whereas the same stimulus paradigm reveals prolonged depression of the lateral inhibition. We conclude that lateral inhibition reflects the activation of molecular layer interneurons, and its major role is to increase the excitability of the activated area by disinhibition. The on-beam inhibition most likely reflects Golgi cell inhibition of granule cells. However, Purkinje cell collateral inhibition of Golgi cells cannot be excluded. Both possibilities suggest that the role of the on-beam inhibition is to efficiently modulate, in time and space, the mossy fiber input to the cerebellar cortex.


1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 4169-4174 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Chen ◽  
C. L. Hanson ◽  
T. J. Ebner

1. The spatial patterns of activation in the rat cerebellar cortex evoked by peripheral stimulation were studied in vivo using optical imaging techniques. 2. Crus I and Crus II were stained with the pH sensitive dye, neutral red. Electrical stimulation of the vibrissae area of the ipsilateral face evoked optical responses consisting of parasagittal bands. The bands were 100–300 microns in width, elongated in the anterior-posterior direction, commonly extended across at least two folia, and varied in number from 1 to 7. 3. The optical responses were dependent on activation of postsynaptic elements since they were decreased substantially by the non-N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist, 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione. The optical bands were shown to correspond anatomically with the parasagittal compartments revealed by immunostaining with anti-zebrin II. 4. The present study demonstrates that functional parasagittal compartments exist in the rat cerebellar cortex and suggests that zebrin-positive Purkinje cell subgroups are anatomically related to this functional organization.


2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Van Essen ◽  
Chad J. Donahue ◽  
Matthew F. Glasser

Cerebral cortex and cerebellar cortex both vary enormously across species in their size and complexity of convolutions. We discuss the development and evolution of cortical structures in terms of anatomy and functional organization. We propose that the distinctive shapes of cerebral and cerebellar cortex can be explained by relatively few developmental processes, notably including mechanical tension along axons and dendrites. Regarding functional organization, we show how maps of myelin content in cerebral cortex are evolutionarily conserved across primates but differ in the proportion of cortex devoted to sensory, cognitive, and other functions. We summarize recent progress and challenges in (i) parcellating cerebral cortex into a mosaic of distinct areas, (ii) distinguishing cortical areas that correspond across species from those that are present in one species but not another, and (iii) using this information along with surface-based interspecies registration to gain deeper insights into cortical evolution. We also comment on the methodological challenges imposed by the differences in anatomical and functional organization of cerebellar cortex relative to cerebral cortex.


Author(s):  
D.L. Spector ◽  
S. Huang ◽  
S. Kaurin

We have been interested in the organization of RNA polymerase II transcription and pre-mRNA splicing within the cell nucleus. Several models have been proposed for the functional organization of RNA within the eukaryotic nucleus and for the relationship of this organization to the distribution of pre-mRNA splicing factors. One model suggests that RNAs which must be spliced are capable of recruiting splicing factors to the sites of transcription from storage and/or reassembly sites. When one examines the organization of splicing factors in the nucleus in comparison to the sites of chromatin it is clear that splicing factors are not localized in coincidence with heterochromatin (Fig. 1). Instead, they are distributed in a speckled pattern which is composed of both perichromatin fibrils and interchromatin granule clusters. The perichromatin fibrils are distributed on the periphery of heterochromatin and on the periphery of interchromatin granule clusters as well as being diffusely distributed throughout the nucleoplasm. These nuclear regions have been previously shown to represent initial sites of incorporation of 3H-uridine.


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