title: Systematic regional variations in Purkinje cell spiking patterns.
abstract: In contrast to the uniform anatomy of the cerebellar cortex, molecular and physiological studies indicate that significant differences exist between cortical regions, suggesting that the spiking activity of Purkinje cells (PCs) in different regions could also show distinct characteristics. To investigate this possibility we obtained extracellular recordings from PCs in different zebrin bands in crus IIa and vermis lobules VIII and IX in anesthetized rats in order to compare PC firing characteristics between zebrin positive (Z+) and negative (Z-) bands. In addition, we analyzed recordings from PCs in the A2 and C1 zones of several lobules in the posterior lobe, which largely contain Z+ and Z- PCs, respectively. In both datasets significant differences in simple spike (SS) activity were observed between cortical regions. Specifically, Z- and C1 PCs had higher SS firing rates than Z+ and A2 PCs, respectively. The irregularity of SS firing (as assessed by measures of interspike interval distribution) was greater in Z+ bands in both absolute and relative terms. The results regarding systematic variations in complex spike (CS) activity were less consistent, suggesting that while real differences can exist, they may be sensitive to other factors than the cortical location of the PC. However, differences in the interactions between SSs and CSs, including the post-CS pause in SSs and post-pause modulation of SSs, were also consistently observed between bands. Similar, though less strong trends were observed in the zonal recordings. These systematic variations in spontaneous firing characteristics of PCs between zebrin bands in vivo, raises the possibility that fundamental differences in information encoding exist between cerebellar cortical regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience & Physiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jianqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nadia L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Cerminara
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience & Physiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yuriy
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kotsurovskyy
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hanako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.affiliation: School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Burroughs
authors.affiliation: The Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Wise
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuanjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience & Physiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sarah P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan; Center for Brain Integration Research, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sugihara
authors.affiliation: School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Apps
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience & Physiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Lang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley