Abstract
The influence of trigeminal sensory stimulation on substantia nigra units was investigated in cats anesthetized with chloralose. Low-intensity electrical stimulation was applied to primary sensory afferents (inferior dental nerve, trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus), and a high proportion of substantia nigra units showed evoked changes in activity. Responses were typically excitatory. Peripheral receptive fields were assessed by applying natural mechanosensory and also electrical stimulation to the face, perioral, and intraoral tissue. Substantia nigra units responded to light tactile stimuli; the majority of the receptive fields were bilateral, and all subsumed at least two branches of the trigeminal nerve. Latency considerations suggest that these sensory responses were not conveyed via striatonigral connections. The findings have implications in relation to the role of the basal ganglia, in general, in oropharyngeal sensorimotor processes.
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