Movement-related forebrain and midbrain multiple unit activity in rats.
In 16 rats multiple unit activity was recorded simultaneously from ventral forebrain and dorsal midbrain areas, with continuous monitoring by sensitive head movement and body movement recorders, along with careful observations of ongoing behaviors. Both forebrain and midbrain multiple unit activity were significantly correlated with head and body movements: recordings from both brain areas showed significant declines corresponding to decline in recordings head and body movement. The declines in midbrain multiple unit activity were significantly greater than those in forebrain multiple unit activity. The significant correlation of forebrain multiple unit activity with continuous recordings of bodily activity is, to the best of our knowledge, a new finding. The correlations between brain activity and bodily activity found in these experiments indicate the importance of monitoring brain recordings of awake animals with sensitive recordings of head and body movement. In addition, these findings represent a further demonstration of the need to analyze the operation of the brain in terms of its motor output.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008474:Medial Forebrain Bundle / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement; D011301:Preoptic Area / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000502:physiology