Summary
Under barbiturate anesthesia the brain stem of squirrel monkeys was explored for points from which stimulation could influence synaptic transmission through the lateral geniculate nucleus. The central region of the mesencephalic reticular formation was clearly the most effective site. Other effective loci were in the pontine reticular formation, pretectal area and brachium of the superior colliculus. Considerably less effective was stimulation of the superior colliculus or central gray. Except for the region of the corticotectal tract as it passes through the pulvinar, stimulation of the diencephalon up to the level of A8 was without effect. The limited extent of the effective regions, the bilaterality of their influence, and the fact that when inhibitory and facilitatory effects were both obtained, they were maximal from the same locus, all suggest that a single functional system was engaged. However, purely inhibitory effects were sometimes obtained and are difficult to account for on the basis of a single system even though they originated from the same general area which gave the more common biphasic effects.
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Supported by USPHS Grants NS 03606 and 2TlNB 5395.
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Wilson, P.D., Pecci-Saavedra, J. & Doty, R.W. Mesencephalic control of lateral geniculate nucleus in primates. II. Effective loci. Exp Brain Res 18, 204–213 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234724
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234724