title: Regularity of the spontaneous discharge of neurons in the nucleus raphe dorsalis of the cat.
abstract: Impulse discharges were recorded from 43 neurons in the nucleus raphe dorsalis of the cat. Of these neurons examine for spontaneous activity, 23 fired in remarkable regular rhythm (clock-like neurons); 18 fired irregularly (non-clock-like neurons); and 2 fired with an unclassified pattern. Almost all clock-like neurons were unresponsive to any kind of peripheral somatic stimuli, while the majority of non-clock-like neurons were excited by both nociceptive and non-nociceptive stimuli or by non-nociceptive stimuli. The somatic receptive fields were large, spanning the entire body.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D002415:Cats; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis