Cerebellar Neuronal Firing Patterns in the Intact and Unrestrained Cat During Walking

Abstract

The cerebellum plays a major role in the coordination of motor behavior. When there is damage to this area of the brain, a subject is still capable of motor activity but the smooth coordinated aspect of the behavior is no longer present. The object of this study was to investigate the firing patterns of cerebellar neurons in the awake, intact and unrestrained cat during a coordinated motor activity, namely, peg walking. Previous studies on decerebrate cats employed electrical stimulation in the ‘loco-motor region’ of the mesencephalon to produce treadmill walking while cerebellar neuronal activity was recorded (Orlovsky, 1972a, b). These studies have indicated that the cerebellum plays a major role in locomotion and that Purkinje neurons and the nuclear cells modulate their activity during walking.