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Cumulative effects of alcohol (ethanol) on the activity of Purkinje cells in the cat cerebellum

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The effects of three consecutive injections of 2 ml/kg 30% alcohol (ethanol, i.v.) on the activity of identified cerebellar Purkinje cells were investigated during experiments on adult cats anesthetized by a Nembutal-chloralose mixture. It was found that repeated alcohol injections exert a cumulative effect on the firing rate of these cells. The alcohol-induced rise in Purkinje cell firing rate, produced by excitation of the mossy fibers, was generally accompanied by a reduction in that of cells responding to excitation of climbing fibers. The inhibitory pause occurring after complex discharges in cerebellar Purkinje cells grew shorter with successive alcohol injections.

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I. M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 74–80, January–February, 1987.

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Grigor'yan, R.A., Ismailov, T.M. Cumulative effects of alcohol (ethanol) on the activity of Purkinje cells in the cat cerebellum. Neurophysiology 19, 64–69 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01055997

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01055997

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