A dominant focus is a zone with stably increased neuron excitability in the cerebral cortex arising as a result of prolonged stimulation of some kind of effector (in our case the animal’s forepaw) or the direct cortical representation of this effector. Apart from increased excitability and stable excitation of the neurons within the zone, the dominant focus has two further very important properties – the ability of its neurons to sum excitation arriving in the cortex and propagating across cortical neural networks and inertia. This latter property is manifest as activation of the reaction in response to test stimuli (previously indifferent for the animal), leading to action by the effector even several days after cessation of the stimulation which formed the dominant. Stimulation of the paws in rabbits with rhythmic current impulses of threshold strength formed a rhythmic defensive dominant. The interaction (linkage) of sensorimotor cortex neuron activity in rabbits in the dominant focus was studied. The time sequences of the accumulation of intervals between linked spikes were analyzed as peaks on cross-correlation histograms (CCH). The frequencies of linked spikes or the intervals between them in the CCH peak during the 1-min analysis period were determined using “secondary” autocorrelation histograms (ACH). Further analysis was performed using selected peaks on secondary ACH, which dominated over the mean histogram level with significance p < 0.05. Formation of a rhythmic defensive dominant in the cerebral cortex was associated with the appearance of linked spikes not only at the stimulation rhythm (2 sec), but also at rhythms which were multiples of this (4, 6, and 8 sec). Neuron activity was recorded and analyzed after creation of a rhythmic dominant. At the beginning of each experiment (i.e., before presentation of test stimulation), linked spikes were dominated by the 2-sec rhythm. Repeated peaks on secondary ACH, providing evidence that linked activity was dominated by rhythms of 4, 6, and 8 sec, were absent or rare. Presentation of test stimuli showed a significant increase in the number of repeated peaks. It is suggested that subsequent exposure to test stimuli during the experiment enhanced the previously created latent focus of excitation, which became apparent as an increase in the complexity of the rhythm.
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Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 304–313, May–June, 2014.
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Galashina, A.G., Bogdanov, A.V. Dynamics of the Assimilation of Rhythms of Electrocutaneous Stimulation by Sensorimotor Cortex Neurons in the Rabbit Brain. Neurosci Behav Physi 46, 88–94 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0202-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0202-9