Discharges of Purkinje cells in the paravermal part of the cerebellar anterior lobe during locomotion in the cat

Abstract

Extracellular recordings were made from 124 Purkinje cells in the paravermal part of lobule V of the cerebellum in cats walking steadily at a speed of 0.5 m/s on a moving belt. All cells tested had a tactile receptive field from which simple spikes could be evoked and 96% of these were on the ipsilateral forelimb. Seventy-six of the cells were also studied whilst the animals sat or lay quietly without movement. Complex spikes were discharged at 1-2/s and these were accompanied by simple spikes in fifty-nine cells (78%); in the remaining cells there were no or few simple spikes. The over-all mean discharge rate (including both types of spike) was 37.8 +/- 27 impulses/s (+/- S.D.). During locomotion all cells discharged both types of spike and the over-all mean rate was 57.6 +/- 29 impulses/s (+/- S.D.). In all cells but one, the frequency of the simple spikes was modulated rhythmically in time with the stepping movements but the phasing relative to the step cycle varied widely between cells. Peak rates also varied widely, the average being 91.5 +/- 44 impulses/s (+/- S.D.). Most cells (63%) generated one period of accelerated discharge per step but others generated two (35%) or three (2%) such periods. Despite the individual variations in discharge timing the population as a whole was considerably more active during the swing than the stance phase of the step cycle in the ipsilateral forelimb (68 impulses/s as compared with 49 impulses/s on average). Thirty-four cells were electrophysiologically identified as lying in the c1 zone of the cortex and twenty-five as being in the c2 zone (nomenclature of Oscarsson, 1980). During locomotion, the population activity in the two zones differed slightly: activity in the c1 population was phase advanced by approximately one-tenth of the step cycle. The results are discussed, with particular emphasis on the finding that population activity in the Purkinje cells of the c1 zone fluctuated during the step cycle in parallel with that in the part of nucleus interpositus to which they project.