CEREBELLAR ACTION POTENTIALS IN RESPONSE TO STIMULATION OF PROPRIOCEPTORS AND EXTEROCEPTORS IN THE RAT

Abstract

Exteroceptive stimulation produced by moving the hair on 28 rats revealed action potentials on all the readily exposable folia of the cerebellum. The most consistent and earliest surface positive potentials occurred when leading from the highest folium of the culmen. The action potentials produced by proprioceptive stimulation caused by tapping the tendon of an isolated quadriceps femoris or triceps brachii muscle in 20 rats were more restricted in their distribution. The most consistent and earliest surface positive potentials occurred when leading from the pyramis. Activity recorded from other lobules such as the folium and tuber vermis, lobulus ansiformis and lobulus paramedianus following both types of stimulation may have resulted from activity caused by intracerebellar connections. No consistent differences in the distribution of the responses were detected when different parts of the animal''s body were stimulated.