Summary
In order to investigate the role of GABAergic neurotransmission within the reticular part of substantia nigra (SNR) in the switching of motor patterns and the performance of movements, cats trained to walk on the running belt of a treadmill at constant speed were subjected to three different tests: (1) a food dispenser test measuring the animals' capacity to switch motor patterns in order to get access to food during walking; (2) an obstacle test measuring the animals' capacity to switch motor patterns in reaction to incoming obstacles; (3) EMG recording of two representative antagonistic muscles of the hindlimb during walking on the treadmill. Local injection of a moderate dose of the GABA antagonist picrotoxin (PTX; 250–500 ng/0.5 μl) into the SNR disrupted the animals' capacity to switch motor patterns in the food dispenser test, but not in the obstacle test. These animals displayed normal EMG patterns during walking. Higher doses of intranigral injections of PTX, however, impaired the execution of movements per se as detected by an increased number of ‘faults’ in the obstacle test and pathological EMG patterns during walking. These experiments support the view that (1) the SNR plays a distinct role for switching motor patterns; (2) the SNR is involved in the control of movements per se; (3) the degree of motor disorder depends on the degree of pathology within this brain structure.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cools AR (1980) Role of neostriatal dopaminergic activity in sequencing and selecting behavioural strategies: facilitation of processes involved in selecting the best strategy in a stressful situation. Behav Brain Res 1: 361–378
Cools AR, Jaspers R, Kolasiewicz W, Sontag K-H, Wolfarth S (1983) Substantia nigra is a station that not only transmits, but also transforms incoming signals for its behavioural expression: striatal dopamine and GABA-mediated responses of pars reticulata neurons. Behav Brain Res 7: 39–49
De Long MR, Crutcher MD, Georgopoulos AP (1983) Relations between movement and single cell discharge in the substantia nigra of the behaving monkey. J Neurosci 3: 1599–1606
De Long MR, Georgopoulos AP (1981) Motor functions of the basal ganglia. In: Brookhart JM, Mountcastle VB, Geiger SR (eds) Handbook of physiology, Sect 1. The nervous system, Vol II, Motor control. American Physiological Society, Bethesda, pp 1017–1061
De Long MR, Georgopoulos AP, Crutcher MD, Mitchell SJ, Richardson RT, Alexander GE (1984) Functional organization of the basal ganglia contribution of single-cell recording studies. In: Evered D, O'Connor M (eds) Functions of the basal ganglia. Pitman, London, pp 64–78
Di Chiara G, Porceddu M, Imperato A, Morelli M (1981) Role of GABA neurones in the expression of striatal motor functions. In: Di Chiara G, Gessa G (eds) GABA and the basal ganglia. Raven Press, New York, pp 129–163
Ellenbroek B, Schwarz M, Sontag K-H, Cools AR (1985) The importance of the striato-nigro-collicular pathway in the expression of haloperidol induced tonic EMG activity. Neurosci Lett 54: 189–194
Evarts EV, Wise SP (1984) Basal ganglia outputs and motor control. In Evered D, O'Connor M (eds) Functions of the basal ganglia. Pitman, London, pp 83–96
Gale K, Casu M (1981) Dynamic utilization of GABA in substantia nigra regulation by dopamine and GABA in the striatum and its clinical and behavioural implications. Mol Cell Biochem 39: 369–405
Garcia-Rill E, Skinner RD, Jackson MB, Smith M (1983A) Connections of the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR). I. Substantia nigra afferents. Brain Res Bull 10: 63–71
Georgopoulos AP, De Long MR, Crutcher MD (1983) Relations between parameters of step tracking movements and single cell discharge in the globus pallidus and subthalamic nucleus of the behaving monkey. J Neurosci 3: 1586–1598
Graybiel AM, Ragsdale CW (1983) Biochemical anatomy of the striatum. In: Emson PC (ed) Chemical neuroanatomy. Raven Press, New York, pp 427–504
Havemann U, Turski L, Schwarz M, Kuschinsky K (1983) Nigral GABAergic mechanisms and EMG activity in rats: differences between pars reticulata and pars compacta. Eur J Pharmacol 92: 49–56
Hore J, Meyer-Lohmann J, Brooks VB (1977) Basal ganglia cooling disables learned arm movements of monkeys in the abscence of visual guidance. Science 195: 584–586
Itoh M (1983) Effect of haloperidol on glutamate decarboxylase activity in descrete brain areas of the rat. Psychopharmacology 79: 169–172
Jaspers R, Schwarz M, Sontag K-H, Cools AR (1984) Caudate nucleus and programming behaviour in cats: role of dopamine in switching motor patterns. Behav Brain Res 14: 17–28
Melis M, Gale K (1983) Effect of dopamine agonist on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) turnover in the superior colliculus: evidence that nigrotectal GABA projections are under the influence of dopaminergic transmission. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 226: 425–431
Reavill C, Jenner P, Marsden CD (1984) γ-aminobutyric acid and basal ganglia outflow pathways. In: Evered D, O'Connor M (eds) Functions of the basal ganglia. Pittman, London, pp 164–171
Scheel-Krüger J (1983) The GABA receptor and animal behaviour. In: Enna SJ (ed) GABA receptors. Humana Press, New Jersey, pp 215–256
Schmidt WJ (1983) Involvement of dopaminergic neurotransmission in the control of goal-directed movements. Psychopharmacology 80: 360–364
Schwarz M, Ikonomidou C, Klockgether T, Turski L, Ellenbroek B, Sontag K-H (1986) The role of striatal cholinergic mechanisms for the development of limb rigidity: an electromyographic study in rats. Brain Res 373: 365–372
Schwarz M, Löscher W, Turski L, Sontag K-H (1985) Disturbed GABAergic transmission in mutant Han-Wistar rats: further evidence for basal ganglia dysfunction. Brain Res 347: 258–267
Schwarz M, Sontag K-H, Wand P (1984a) Sensory-motor processing in substantia nigra pars reticulata in conscious cats. J Physiol (Lond) 347: 129–147
Schwarz M, Sontag K-H, Wand P (1984b) Non-dopaminergic neurones of the reticular part of substantia nigra can gate static fusimotor action onto flexors in cat. J Physiol (Lond) 354: 333–344
Snider RS, Niemer WT (1964) A stereotaxic atlas of the cat brain. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Sontag K-H, Heim C, Schwarz M, Jaspers R, Cools AR, Wand P (1984) Consequences of disturbed GABAergic transmission in substantia nigra pars reticulata in freely moving cats on their motor behaviour and in anaesthetized cats on their spinal motor elements. In: McKenzie JS, Kemm RE, Wilcock LN (eds) The basal ganglia, structure and function. Adv Behav Biol, Vol 27. Plenum Press, New York, pp 495–511
Stern J, Ward AA (1962) Supraspinal and drug modulation of alpha motor system. Arch Neurol Psych (Chicago) 6: 404–413
Turski L, Havemann U, Kuschinsky K (1984) GABAergic mechanisms in mediating muscular rigidity, catalepsy and postural asymmetry in rats: differences between dorsal and ventral striatum. Brain Res 322: 49–57
Wagner A, Kalmring K (1968) The dynamic and static sensibility of the Ia afferents during electrical stimulation of the substantia nigra. Brain Res 10: 277–280
Wand P, Schwarz M (1985) Two types of cat static fusimotor neurones under separate central control? Neurosci Lett 58: 145–149
Wolfarth S, Kolasiewicz W, Sontag K-H (1981) The effects of muscimol and picrotoxin injections into the cat substantia nigra. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 317: 54–60
York DH (1972) Potentiation of lumbo-sacral monosynaptic reflexes by the substantia nigra. Exp Neurol 36: 437–448
York DH (1973) Motor responses induced by stimulation of the substantia nigra. Exp Neurol 41: 323–330
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Heim, C., Schwarz, M., Klockgether, T. et al. GABAergic neurotransmission within the reticular part of the substantia nigra (SNR): role for switching motor patterns and performance of movements. Exp Brain Res 63, 375–381 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236855
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236855