Regularity of the spontaneous discharge of neurons in the nucleus raphe dorsalis of the cat.
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.
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