The caudo ventral pontine tegmentum is involved in the generation of high velocity eye saccades in bursts during paradoxical sleep in the cat.
Cat eye movements were recorded in the head restrained condition, with the technique of the scleral search coil in a magnetic field, and the maximum velocity/amplitude relationships were analyzed for saccades in the following conditions, (1) during waking (W); (2) during paradoxical sleep (PS); and (3) during W following carbachol microinjections in the medioventral part of the caudal pontine tegmentum. These findings indicate that (1) the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying carbachol induced events are similar to those acting during PS and that the caudal pontine tegmentum might be the generator of high velocity eye saccades in bursts accompanied by ponto geniculo occipital waves (PGOw) during PS, and (2) caudal pontine tegmentum neurons show 'state-dependent' responsiveness to cholinergic inputs, suggesting that a change in the synaptic inputs and/or the membrane properties of these neurons during PS may be responsible for the induction of saccadic eye movements in bursts and associated PGOw.
Vanni-Mercier
G
G
Départment de Médecine Expérimentale, CNRS UA 1195, INSERM U 52, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France.
Debilly
G
G
Lin
J S
JS
Pélisson
D
D
D000818:Animals; D002217:Carbachol / Q000494:pharmacology; D002415:Cats; D018678:Cholinergic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D008845:Microinjections; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D010277:Parasympathomimetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D010507:Periodicity; D011149:Pons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D012438:Saccades / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*
D018678:Cholinergic Agents; D010277:Parasympathomimetics; D002217:Carbachol