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Corticofugal influences on postsynaptic processes in rubrospinal neurons in the cat brain

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Abstract

Composite and unitary EPSPs of red nucleus neurons evoked by stimulation of the sensomotor and association parietal cortex and nucleus interpositus of the cerebellum were studied in acute experiments on cats anesthetized with pentobarbital. A monosynaptic connection was shown to exist between not only the sensomotor, but also the association cortex, and rubrospinal neurons, in which unitary EPSPs appeared during stimulation of the association cortex after a latent period of 1.5–2.7 msec, with a peak rise time of 1.1–3.1 msec and an amplitude of 0.22–0.65 mV. Analysis of the temporal characteristics of the unitary EPSP suggested that synapses formed by fibers from the association cortex occupy a position nearer the soma than synapses formed by axons of sensomotor cortical cells.

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L. A. Orbeli Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, Erevan. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 67–74, January–February, 1984.

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Fanardzhyan, V.V., Gorodnov, V.L. Corticofugal influences on postsynaptic processes in rubrospinal neurons in the cat brain. Neurophysiology 16, 58–64 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052828

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052828

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