title: Discharge patterns of the nucleus parabrachialis lateralis neurons of the cat during sleep and waking.
abstract: Discharge patterns of the nucleus parabrachialis lateralis (PbL) neurons located in the dorsolateral pontine tegmentum were investigated in 7 unrestrained, freely behaving cats with a multiwire electrode bundle method. Among 84 PbL units recorded so far, 31% of the units exhibited a marked reduction or complete cessation of firing during paradoxical sleep (PS) (PS-off cells), while 55% of the units exhibited an increase of firing during PS (PS-on cells) as compared with quiet wakefulness (QW) and slow wave sleep (SWS). The remaining 14% of the PbL units exhibited no remarkable change of firing rate and pattern during the sleep-walking cycle. The PbL PS-off cells were further characterized by a slow and regular firing pattern during QW and SWS, and they were similar in several respects to the PS-off cells reported in the nucleus raphe dorsalis and locus coeruleus complex. Six of the PbL PS-on cells were tightly phase-locked with PGO waves, and the spikes preceded by 5-25 msec the onset of the PGO waves recorded in the lateral geniculate nucleus. Seven other PbL PS-on cells were related to the locomotor activity observed in active wakefulness. In light of the present results, the functional significance of the PbL units has been discussed.
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D011149:Pons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*