Summary
This paper is the first of a series in which the processing of information in the cerebellum has been studied by investigating the effects that known inputs from limb nerves produce on the unitary spike potentials in the cerebellar cortex. These spikes have been recorded extracellularly at all depths along microelectrode tracks in the 5th, 4th and 3rd lobules of the anterior lobe in the lateral vermis or in the pars intermedia. These units have a background frequency of discharge, often very irregular, and computer averaging techniques have been employed in order to derive reliable information on the time course and intensity of the excitatory and/or inhibitory actions produced by the input against this background.
Most of the spike responses recorded from the granular layer fall into two classes, one characteristic of impulses in mossy fibers, and the other of impulse discharges from granule cells. Both in the spontaneous background and in the response to afferent volleys in limb nerves the mossy fibers exhibit a performance in close accord with that described for the discharges up the spino-cerebellar tracts. The short latency of 6–9 msec for hindlimb stimuli and the high frequency burst response of 2–4 impulses are characteristic. The mossy fibers displayed a wide variety of responses to the wide range of testing inputs, there being various combinations of excitatory and inhibitory responses and also delayed excitatory actions, all of which must be assumed to be reflections of synaptic influences on the cells of origin of the mossy fibers in the spinal cord.
Granule cells have a longer latency by several milliseconds, 9–20 msec for the hindlimb, and a slower frequency in their burst response which tended to be longer and more irregular. The small unitary spike potentials are more difficult to isolate. Also with repetitive stimulation granule cells are more readily depressed than are mossy fibers.
Usually a granule cell exhibits a wider range of response to the various cutaneous and muscular afferents of a limb. Both mossy fibers and granule cells may display reciprocal responses to volleys from muscle nerves to antagonistic muscles. This attempt to define properties of the mossy fiber and granule cell spike potentials should help in their identification in future investigations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Curtis, D.R., Eccles, J.C., Lundberg, A.: Intracellular recording from cells in Clarke's column. Acta physiol. scand. 43, 303–314 (1958).
Eccles, J.C., Paber, D.S., Murphy, J.T., Sabah, N.H., Táboříková, H.: The integrative performance of the cerebellar Purkyně cell. In: Excitatory Synaptic Mechanisms, pp. 223–236. Ed. by P. Andersen and J.K.S. Jansen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget 1970.
Eccles, J.C., Faber, D.S., Murphy, J.T., Sabah, N.H., Táboříková, H.: Afferent volleys in limb nerves influencing impulse discharges in cerebellar cortex. II. In Purkyně cells. Exp. Brain Res. 13, 36–53 (1971a).
—: Investigations on integration of mossy fiber and climbing fiber inputs to Purkyně cells in the anterior lobe. Exp. Brain Res. 13, 54–77 (1971b).
—, Hoff, H.E.: The rhythmic discharge of motoneurones. Proc. roy. Soc. B 110, 483–514 (1932).
—, Hubbard, J.I., Oscarsson, O.: Intracellular recording from cells of the ventral spino-cerebellar tract. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 158, 486–516 (1961).
—, Ito, M., Szentágothai, J.: The Cerebellum as a Neuronal Machine, 335 pp. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer 1967.
—, Llinás, R., Sasaki, K.: The mossy fibre-granule cell relay in the cerebellum and its inhibition by Golgi cells. Exp. Brain Res. 1, 82–101 (1966).
—, Oscarsson, O., Willis, W.D.: Synaptic action of Group I and II afferent fibres of muscle on the cells of the dorsal spino-cerebellar tract. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 158, 517–543 (1961).
—, Provini, L., Strata, P., Táboříková, H.: Analysis of electrical potentials evoked in the cerebellar anterior lobe by stimulation of hindlimb and forelimb nerves. Exp. Brain Res. 6, 171–194 (1968).
—, Sasaki, K., Strata, P.: The potential fields generated in the cerebellar cortex by a mossy fiber volley. Exp. Brain Res. 3, 58–80 (1967a).
—: A comparison of the inhibitory actions of Golgi cells and of basket cells. Exp. Brain Res. 3, 81–94 (1967b).
Grant, G., Oscarsson, O., Rosén, I.: Functional organization of the spinoreticulocerebellar path with identification of its spinal component. Exp. Brain Res. 1, 306–319 (1966).
Holmqvist, B., Lundberg, A., Osoarsson, O.: Functional organization of the dorsal spino-cerebellar tract in the cat. V. Further experiments on convergence of excitatory and inhibitory actions. Acta physiol. scand. 38, 76–90 (1956).
Jansen, J.K.S., Nicolaysen, K., Rudjord, T.: Discharge patterns of neurones of the dorsal spino-cerebellar tract activated by static extention of primary endings of muscle spindles. J. Neurophysiol. 29, 1061–1086 (1966).
—, Rudjord, T.: Dorsal spino-cerebellar tract: response pattern of nerve fibers to muscle stretch. Science 149, 1109–1111 (1965).
Kuno, M., Miyahara, J.T.: Factors responsible for multiple discharges of neurons in Clarke's column. J. Neurophysiol. 31, 624–638 (1968).
Laporte, Y., Lundberg, A.: Functional organization of the dorsal spino-cerebellar tract in the cat. III. Single fibre recording in Fleschig's fasciculus on adequate stimulation of primary afferent neurons. Acta physiol. scand. 36, 204–218 (1956).
Laporte, Y., Lundberg, A., Oscarsson, O.: Functional organization of the dorsal spino-cerebellar tract in the cat. II. Single fibre recording in the Fleschig's fasciculus on electrical stimulation of various peripheral nerves. Acta physiol. scand. 36, 188–203 (1956).
Latham, A., Paul, D.H.: Responses in the cerebellum of the unanaesthetized (decerebrate) cat evoked by stimulating low threshold cutaneous afferent nerve fibres. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 197, 77–78 P (1968).
Lundberg, A.: Ascending spinal hindlimb pathways in the cat. In: Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 12, pp. 135–163. Ed. by J.C. Eccles and J.P. Schadé. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publ. Co. 1964.
—, Oscarsson, O.: Functional organization of the dorsal spino-cerehellar tract in the cat. IV. Synaptic connections of afferents from Golgi tendon organs and muscle spindles. Acta physiol. scand. 38, 53–75 (1956).
—: Functional organization of the dorsal spino-cerebellar tract in the cat. VII. Identification of units by antidromic activation from the cerebellar cortex with recognition of five functional subdivisions. Acta physiol. scand. 50, 356–374 (1960).
—: Functional organization of the ventral spino-cerebellar tract in the cat. IV. Identification of units by antidromic activation from the cerebellar cortex. Acta physiol. scand. 54, 270–286 (1962).
—, Winsbury, G.: Functional organization of the dorsal spino-cerebellar tract in the cat. VI. Further experiments on excitation from tendon organ and muscle spindle afferents. Acta physiol. scand. 49, 165–170 (1960).
McIntyre, A.K., Mark, R.F.: Synaptic linkage between afferent fibres of the cat's hind limb and ascending fibres in the dorsolateral fasciculus. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 153, 306–330 (1960).
Oscarsson, O.: Functional organization of the ventral spino-cerebellar tract in the cat. II. Connections with muscle, joint, and skin nerve afferents and effects on adequate stimulation of various receptors. Acta physiol. scand. 42, Suppl. 146, 1–107 (1957).
—: Functional organization of the spino-and cuneo-cerebellar tracts. Physiol. Rev. 45, 495–522 (1965).
—: Functional significance of information channels from the spinal cord to the cerebellum. In: Neurophysiological Basis of Normal and Abnormal Motor Activities. Ed. by M.D. Yahr and D.P. Purpura. New York: Raven Press 1967.
—, Rosén, I.: Response characteristics of reticulocerebellar neurones activated from spinal afferents. Exp. Brain Res. 1, 320–328 (1966).
Rubia, F.J., Phelps, J.B.: Responses of the cerebellar cortex to cutaneous and visceral afferents. Pflügers Arch. 314, 68–85 (1970).
Talbott, R.E., Towe, A.L., Kennedy, T.T.: Physiological and histological classification of cerebellar neurons in chloralose-anesthetized cats. Exp. Neurol. 19, 46–64 (1967).
Thach, W.T.: Somatosensory receptive fields of single units in cat cerebellar cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 30, 675–696 (1967).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Post-Doctoral Fellow NINDS (1F2NB40,544101 NSRB).
Post-Doctoral Fellow UHF Grant No. FTF-3-UB-70.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eccles, J.C., Faber, D.S., Murphy, J.T. et al. Afferent volleys in limb nerves influencing impulse discharges in cerebellar cortex I. In mossy fibers and granule cells. Exp Brain Res 13, 15–35 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236428
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236428