Activity of Purkinje cells and interpositus neurones during and after periods of high frequency climbing fibre activation in the cat

Abstract

The activity of cerebellar Purkinje cells and interpositus neurones was recorded during and after periods of high frequency (2.5–7.5 Hz) climbing fibre activation in barbiturate-anaesthetized cats. 1. During the high frequency conditioning stimulation, the Purkinje cell simple spike (SS) firing was initially silenced in all zones studied. After a few seconds, the SS reappeared and the frequency increased to well above that of the control level after approximately 10 s. Thereafter, the SS rate started to decline so that, after 15–20 s, the Purkinje cells fired no more SS. This SS silence lasted up to 60 s, whether or not the stimulation was continued. 2. The Purkinje cells responded with a complex spike (CS) to every stimulus. If the high-frequency stimulation lasted for at least 15 s, the spontaneous CS discharge of the Purkinje cells in the c1, c2, and c3 zones was suppressed after the conditioning stimulation had ended. This suppression lasted for approximately the same length of time as the SS silence. In the b zone, however, no CS suppression was observed. 3. Interpositus neurones displayed an increased discharge rate after periods of conditioning stimulation, thus displaying a mirror image of the Purkinje cell SS firing. 4. The behaviour of the neurones agrees well with the behaviour predicted by an hypothesis of the olivo-cerebello-olivary loop (Andersson and Hesslow 1987). 5. The results suggest that the cerebello-olivary projection is topographically organized and matches the microzonal organization in the olivo-cerebellar projection.