title: Activation of the thalamic parafascicular nucleus by electrical stimulation of the peripheral vestibular nerve in rats.
abstract: The parafascicular nucleus (PFN) of the thalamus is a primary structure in the feedback circuit of the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical system, as well as in the neural circuit of the vestibulo-thalamo-striatal pathway. We investigated the characteristics of the functional connectivity between the peripheral vestibular system and the PFN in rats. A single electrical stimulation was applied to the horizontal semicircular canal nerve in the peripheral vestibular end-organs. This resulted in polysynaptic local field potentials (LFPs) in the PFN, which were composed of long-lasting multiple waves. The LFPs were prominently seen contralateral to the stimulation site. The PFN LFPs were suppressed by transient chemical de-afferentation of peripheral vestibular activity using a 5% lidocaine injection into the middle ear. The spontaneous firing rate of the single units increased after electrical stimulation to the horizontal canal nerve in a frequency-dependent manner. The induction of cFos protein was more prominent in the contralateral PFN than in the ipsilateral PFN following horizontal semicircular canal nerve stimulation. The functional vestibulo-parafascicular connection is a neural substrate for the transmission of vestibular sensory information to the basal ganglia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine and Brain Science Institute at Wonkwang University, Iksan, 570-749, Korea.|Division of Radiation Oncology, Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences, Seoul, 139-706, Korea.
authors.forename: Nari
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine and Brain Science Institute at Wonkwang University, Iksan, 570-749, Korea.
authors.forename: Myoung Ae
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine and Brain Science Institute at Wonkwang University, Iksan, 570-749, Korea.
authors.forename: Ho
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine and Brain Science Institute at Wonkwang University, Iksan, 570-749, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung Rim
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine and Brain Science Institute at Wonkwang University, Iksan, 570-749, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Who
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Division of Convergence Biotechnology, Korea Basic Science Institute, Cheongju, Chungbook, 28119, Korea.
authors.forename: Chaejoon
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine and Brain Science Institute at Wonkwang University, Iksan, 570-749, Korea. mskim@wonkwang.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Min Sun
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0760-6377
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D007839:Functional Laterality; D020646:Intralaminar Thalamic Nuclei / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D055366:Synaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D014725:Vestibular Nerve / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: Local field potentials; Parafascicular nucleus; Vestibular system; Vestibulo-parafascicular nucleus-striatal pathway; cFos protein