Abstract
The intracellular activity of pyramidal tract neurons was studied during electrical stimulation of ventrolateral and ventroposterolateral thalamic nuclei in acute experiments on cats immobilized by myorelaxants. Somatic action potentials were observed and spontaneous spikes were also produced by single and rhythmic stimulation of the thalamic nuclei at the rate of 8–14 Hz, by iontophoretic application of strychnine, and by intracellular depolarizing current pulses. These potentials had a relatively low and variable amplitude of 5–60 mV and are presumed to be dendritic action potentials. It is postulated that these variable potentials arise in the dendrites of pyramidal neurons with multiple zones generating such activity. No interaction was observed where somatic and dendritic action potentials occur simultaneously. The possible functional role of dendritic action potentials is discussed.
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I. S. Beritashvili Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR, Tbilisi. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 435–443, July–August, 1986.
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Labakhua, T.S., Kokaya, M.G. & Okudzhava, V.M. Dendritic action potentials of pyramidal tract neurons in the cat sensorimotor cortex. Neurophysiology 18, 307–314 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052798
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052798