Responses of Inferior Olive Neurons to Stimulation of Semicircular Canals. II. Vertical Semicircular Canalss

ABSTRACT

In the present study, the vestibularly evoked activity of inferior olive (IO) neurons was examined to investigate the vertical vestibular information transmitted through the vestibulo-olivo-cerebellar climbing fiber pathway. The extracellular recording was made in 74 neurons of the IO of cats, while animals were sinusoidally rotated. Most of vestibularly activated IO neurons responded to the vertical rotation (roll) test and were found in or near the beta subnuclei (IObeta). The vestibular IO neurons were activated, when the animal was rotated to the side contralateral to the recording site. In contrast to the observation that the gain of responses of yaw sensitive cells (YSC) was not changed by the rotation frequency, that of the roll-sensitive cells (RSC) decreased as the rotation frequency was increased. Regardless of RSC or HSC, IO neurons showed the tendency of phase-lag in their responses. The alternating excitatory and inhibitory phases of responses of RSC were dependent on the direction of head orientation, the characterstics of which are the null response plane (NRP) and the optimal response plane (ORP). The analysis based on the NRP of RSC showed that vestibular inputs from the ipsilateral anterior semicircular canal induced the NRP of the RSC response at about 45 degree counterclockwise to the longitudinal axis of the animal, and that those inputs were distributed to RSC in the rostral part of IObeta. On the other hand, those from the posterior semicircular canal were related with the NRP at about 45 degree clockwise and with the caudal part of the IObeta. These results suggest that IO neurons receive and encode the vestibular information, the priority of which seems to be the vertical component of the body movement rather than the horizontal ones.