Neuronal activity of the lateral vestibular nucleus of the guinea pig evoked by tilting the animal about the longitudinal axis during locomotion

Abstract

In experiments on decerebrate guinea pigs, the impulse activity of neurons of the lateral vestibular nucleus evoked by tilting the animal about the longitudinal axis was investigated under conditions of spontaneous and mesencephalon stimulation-evoked locomotor activity. In most investigated neurons, locomotor activity led to changes in their responses to adequate vestibular stimulation. The dominant reaction was intensification of such responses, which was observed in almost all vestibulospinal neurons and in 2/3 of cells not having descending projections. Responses were suppressed only in 1/4 of the neurons not projecting to the spinal cord. The changes in the evoked responses had an amplitude character; the lag of the changes in the discharge frequency relative to the acceleration that caused them was constant. It is suggested that intensification of dynamic reactions of vestibular neurons during locomotion provides maintenance of the animal's equilibrium during movements in space by various gaits and along different trajectories.