Properties of tactile responses of neurons in rat thalamic ventroposterolateral nucleus.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the convergences of tactile information also occur at thalamic ventroposterolateral nucleus in rats, we investigated the properties of tactile responses of the thalamic ventroposterolateral nucleus in rats.


METHODS
Unit responses were recorded extracellularly from thalamic ventroposterolateral nucleus in anesthetized rats.


RESULTS
Among 156 neurons examined, 140 neurons (89.7%) had the single, continual and small receptive fields, and 16 neurons (10.3%) had two discrete receptive fields. Some neurons?exhibited different responses to the same intensity stimulation which delivered to different points in their receptive fields. In addition, 4.5% neurons (n = 7) responded only to locomotive stimulation but?not to a punctiform tactile stimulation.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of neurons in ventroposterolateral nucleus of rats have the spatial, temporal and submodal characteristics of cutaneous receptors, while the minority of neurons exhibit the responses of interaction of different peripheral receptors. Therefore, it is concluded that there are convergences of tactile information at the ventroposterolateral nucleus of rats.
Bai
Jing
J
Shanghai Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, the Key Laboratories of Ministry of Education of China, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
Wang
De-Heng
DH
Yin
Liang
L
An
Shu-Ming
SM
Zhou
Shao-Ci
SC
Cao
Xiao-Hua
XH
D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012867:Skin / Q000294:innervation*; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D014110:Touch