title: [Effects of unilateral lesion of the nigrostriatal pathway by 6-OHDA on the neuronal activities of the pedunculopontine nucleus and the ventrolateral thalamic nucleus].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the changes in neuronal activities of the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) and the ventrolateral thalamic nucleus (VL) after unilateral 6-hydroxydopamin (6-OHDA) lesioning of the striatum in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Extracellular single-unit recordings were perin normal rats and 6-OHDA lesioned rats to observe the firing rate and firing pattern occurring in PPN and VL neurons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The firing rate of PPN neurones significantly increased from (8.31 +/- 0.62) Hz in normal rats to (10.70 +/- 0.85) Hz in 6-OHDA lesioned rats. The firing pattern changed towards more irregular and bursty when compared with the normal rats, with the firing rate increasing in regular pattern. The firing rate of VL neurones in normal rats and 6-OHDA lesioned rats were (6.25 +/- 0.54) Hz and (5.67 +/- 0.46)Hz respectively, whereas to normal animals. Surthere were no significant differences in these two groups. In addition, the firing pattern did not change in VL compared prisingly, the firing rate in burst pattern decreased significantly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings demonstrate that PPN neurons are overactive in 6-OHDAlesioned rats, indicating the participation of this nucleus in the pathophysiology of parkinsonism and the activities of VL neurons might be regulated by projection from PPN to VL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Liaoning Medical College, Jinzhou 121001, China.
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Dong-ming
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D016627:Oxidopamine / Q000633:toxicity; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D045042:Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020651:Ventral Thalamic Nuclei / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D016627:Oxidopamine