Eye velocity is not the major factor that determines mossy fiber responses of rabbit floccular Purkinje cells to head and screen oscillation

Abstract

Single-unit activities were recorded from floccular Purkinje cells in 29 alert pigmented rabbits. The floccular areas specifically related to horizontal eye movement (H-zone) were identified by the effects of local stimulation and later confirmed histologically. Most of the 53 H-zone Purkinje cells responded to both vestibular stimulation with turntable oscillation (5 degrees peak-to-peak, 0.1 Hz) in darkness and optokinetic stimulation with dot screen oscillation (2.5 degrees, 0.33 Hz), often showing a preference either for turntable oscillation or screen oscillation. Since these responses were not correlated with the velocity of evoked eye movements or eye position shift, it is concluded that the major inputs to flocculus H-zone Purkinje cells are head velocity or retinal slip signals rather than eye velocity or position signals.