Summary
Excitatory inputs to neurons in the Forel's field H (FFH) related to visually induced vertical saccades from the ipsilateral superior colliculus (SC) were investigated in chronically prepared alert cats. By stimulation of the deep or intermediate layer of the SC, upward augmenting neurons (ANs) and one long-lead downward burst neuron (BN) were found to be activated monosynaptically, while medium-lead BNs were activated disynaptically. The monosynaptically activated neurons were not antidromically activated from the oculomotor nucleus, whereas disynaptically activated neurons were also activated antidromically from the inferior rectus subdivision of the nucleus. These results suggest that an excitatory input to the FFH from the SC for inducing vertical saccades of visual origin first reaches upward ANs and/or long-lead downward BNs in the FFH, which in turn drive medium-lead BNs in the same area synapsing with motoneurons related to vertical eye movements.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Büttner U, Büttner-Ennever JA, Henn V (1977) Vertical eye movement related unit activity in the rostral mesencephalic reticular formation of the alert monkey. Brain Res 130:239–252
Büttner-Ennever JA, Büttner U (1978) A cell group associated with vertical eye movements in the rostral mesencephalic reticular formation of the monkey. Brain Res 151:31–47
Edwards SB, Ginsburgh CL, Henkel CK, Stein BE (1979) Sources of subcortical projections to the superior colliculus in the cat. J Comp Neurol 184:309–330
Grantyn A, Berthoz A (1985) Burst activity of identified tecto-reticulo-spinal neurons in the alert cat. Exp Brain Res 57:417–421
Grantyn A, Grantyn R (1982) Axonal patterns and sites of termination of cat superior colliculus neurons projecting in the tectobulbo-spinal tract. Exp Brain Res 46:243–256
Graybiel AM (1977) Organization of oculomotor pathways in the cat and rhesus monkey. In: Baker R, Berthoz A (eds) Control of gaze by brain stem neurons: developments in neuroscience, Vol 1. Elsevier, New York, pp 79–88
Isa T, Itouji T, Nakao S, Sasaki S (1988) Subtypes of neurons in Forel's field H as defined by their axonal projection. Neurosci Lett 90:95–99
Jasper HH, Ajmone-Marsan C (1954) A stereotaxic atlas of the diencephalon of the cat. The National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa
King WM, Fuchs AF (1979) Reticular control of vertical saccadic eye movements by mesencephalic burst neurons. J Neurophysiol 42:861–876
Moschovakis AK, Karabelas AB, Highstein SM (1988) Structure-function relationships in the primate superior colliculus. II. Morphological identity of presaccadic neurons. J Neurophysiol60:263–302
Nakao S, Shiraishi Y, Oda H, Inagaki M (1988) Direct inhibitory projection of pontine omnipause neurons to burst neurons in the Forel's field H controlling vertical eye movement-related motoneurons in the cat. Exp Brain Res 70:632–636
Nakao S, Shiraishi Y, Oikawa T (1986) Vertical eye movementrelated neurons in the cat medical mesodiencephalic junction: firing pattern, location and projection to oculomotor and trochlear nuclei. Abstr Sattellite Meeting 30th Intern Congress of International Union of Physiological Sciences “Developments in oculomotor research,” p 77
Nakao S, Shiraishi Y, Oikawa T (1987) Vertical eye movementrelated neurons in the cat mesodiencephalic junction: synaptic input from and output to the vestibular nucleus. Neurosci Res (Suppl) 5:S73
Nishioka S, Kawamura H (1980) Activity of vertical eye movement related neurons in the subthalamic area of the midpontine cat. Neurosci Lett (Suppl) 4:S59
Schiller PH, Stryker M (1972) Single-unit recording and stimulation in superior colliculus of the alert rhesus monkey. J Neurophysiol 35:915–924
Sparks DL (1986) Translation of sensory signals into commands for control of saccadic eye movements: role of primate superior colliculus. Physiol Rev 66:118–171
Suzuki H, Azuma M (1976) A glass-insulated “Elgiloy” microelectrode for recording unit activity in chronic monkey experiments. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 41:93–95
Wurtz RH, Goldberg ME (1972) Activity of superior colliculus in behaving monkey. III. Cells discharging before eye movements. J Neurophysiol 35:575–586
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Research fellow from the Department of Pathophysiology, Hebei Medical College, China
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nakao, S., Shiraishi, Y., Li, WB. et al. Mono- and disynaptic excitatory inputs from the superior colliculus to vertical saccade-related neurons in the cat Forel's field H. Exp Brain Res 82, 222–226 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00230857
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00230857