title: Vasodilation evoked from medulla and cerebellum is coupled to bursts of cortical EEG activity in rats.
abstract: Cerebral blood flow (rCBF), measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry, spontaneously fluctuates at approximately 6 events/min in the anesthetized rat. These cerebrovascular waves (CWs) are preceded by simultaneous and synchronous bursts of electrocorticographic activity similar to burst-suppression/spindle-burst electroencephalogram patterns. Identical burst-CW complexes are evoked by single electrical pulses of specific sites in the cerebellar fastigial nucleus or rostral ventrolateral medulla. These consist, sequentially, of a constant initial triphasic (positive-negative-positive) potential reversing polarity in lamina V, variable afterbursts, and transient elevations of rCBF appearing approximately 1.2 s after burst onset. Evoked bursts are occluded by spontaneous bursts appearing < 50 s earlier. Procainization of the cortex reversibly blocks burst-CW complexes. Gradually increasing stimulus frequency proportionally increases the numbers of burst-CW complexes before rCBF rises. We conclude that spontaneous and evoked burst-CW complexes result from excitation of common neurons in lamina V. These intracortical "vasodilator" neurons are spontaneously excited by thalamocortical afferents generating burst-suppression electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns and excited reflexively by afferent signals from the fastigial nucleus or rostral ventrolateral medulla and couple intrinsic neuronal activity to local vascular mechanisms generating vasodilation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York 10021.
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Golanov
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Reis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014664:Vasodilation