Neurological Sciences Institute, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Beaverton, Oregon 97006, USA
Address for correspondence: Neal H. Barmack, Neurological Sciences Institute, 505 NW 185th Avenue, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Beaverton, Oregon 97006. Voice: 503-418-2560; fax: 503-418-2501.
barmackn{at}ohsu.edu
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 978: 237-254 (2002).
The nodulus receives a primary vestibular afferent input from
the ipsilateral labyrinth and a vestibularly related climbing-fiber
input originating from the contralateral labyrinth. Previously
we demonstrated that increased discharge of vestibularly evoked
climbing-fiber responses (CFRs) in nodular Purkinje cells was
correlated with decreased discharge of simple spikes (SSs).
This left unresolved the question of whether vestibularly evoked
antiphasic behavior of CFRs and SSs reflects a common neural
mechanism or the activation of two separate parallel pathways.
We answered this question using natural vestibular stimulation
to modulate the discharge of uvula-nodular Purkinje cells recorded
extracellularly in unilaterally labyrinthectomized, chloralose
urethane-anesthetized rabbits. In such animals, vestibular primary
afferents projecting to the uvula-nodulus as mossy fibers remained
intact on the side contralateral to the unilateral labyrinthectomy.
The discharge of CFRs recorded in ipsilateral nodular Purkinje
cells was increased by ipsilateral roll-tilt while the discharge
of SSs was increased by contralateral roll-tilt. These polarities
were reversed for Purkinje cells recorded in the contralateral
uvula-nodulus. The polarity of SS discharge recorded from Purkinje
cells on both sides of the nodulus was opposite to that of the
vestibular primary mossy-fiber afferents. SSs continued to respond
to contralateral roll-tilt even when the primary vestibular
afferent mossy-fiber pathway was destroyed by the unilateral
labyrinthectomy. Although the discharge of SSs recorded in the
contralateral uvula-nodulus was increased by contralateral roll-tilt,
this modulation was reduced relative to that observed in Purkinje
cells recorded in the ipsilateral uvula-nodulus. We conclude
that vestibularly evoked CFRs caused the modulation of SS discharge.