Aversive Brain Stimulation Research Articles

Adaptation of aversive brain stimulation: Effects of pulse frequency

Rats with electrodes implanted in the medial lemniscus were trained to terminate intermittent electrical pulse trains by pressing a lever. These rats also maintained responding when the lever press produced a continuous pulse train, but only at the higher pulse frequencies tested. This is taken to be evidence of frequency-dependent adaptation of central aversive stimulation.

Dorsal hippocampal unit and EEG responses to rewarding and aversive brain stimulation in rats

Hippocampal unit and EEG activity responses were studies in rats implanted with chronic stimulating electrodes in rewarding lateral hypothalamic (LH) and in aversive dorsal midbrain tegmental (DT) sites. Both LH and DT stimulation usually produced strong theta (4–12 Hz) activity responses, but in 8 out of 28 cases LH stimulation desynchronized ongoing theta activity. LH stimulation frequently elicited increases in amplitude of fast activity (20–40 Hz) that were most prominent in the dentate CA4 and CA3 regions. DT stimulation rarely influenced fast activity but in 3 cases reduced the amplitude of ongoing fast activity in dentate CA4. Tests with both LH and DT stimulation were made of responses in 81 unit sites (68 single- and 13 multiple-unit sites). Most (72 of 81) units were influenced by LH or DT stimulation. Most (52 of 72) of the affected units in response to the two kinds of stimulation fired non-differentially, with types of facilitation ( N = 29) or inhibition ( N = 23). Some units ( N = 8) changed their response in complex ways with continued stimulation. A few units ( N = 6) responded to LH but not to DT stimulation. Six units responded differentially by showing inhibition to LH and facilitation to DT stimulation. It is concluded that rewarding and aversive brain stimulation both can produce in the dorsal hippocampus of the rat strong theta responses and non-specific increases or decreases in the activity of most units. Nevertheless, a selectivity of the hippocampal response is indicated by changes in fast EEG activity and in the activity of a relatively small number of units.

Opposite medical thalamic unit responses to rewarding and aversive brain stimulation

Medial thalamus receives fibers from both medial forebrain bundle (MFB) and hindbrain and midbrain reticular formation (RET). The MFB and RET stimulations are rewarding and aversive respectively. In 32 unanesthetized cerveau isolé rats, 158 units were recorded. The MFB and RET effects converge on two thirds of the units recorded in the dorsal medial and paracentral nuclei of thalamus and are opposite in the following ways: post-stimulus pattern of unit discharge during 7 Hz stimulation; slow-wave recruiting with MFB, but not RET, 7 Hz stimulation; and at a “desynchronization” stimulus frequency (20 Hz), MFB elicits decreased unit discharge and RET elicits increased unit discharge, compared to the 7 Hz rates. In the intralaminar and parafasicular nuclei, post-train (60 Hz, 0.2 sec) decreases and increases in unit firing lasting seconds are often elicited with MFB and RET trains respectively. Stimulation of hypothalamic sites outside MFB did not elicit these MFB effects; parafasicular stimulation did not elicit the RET effects. The MFB effects were not seen in habenula or ventral basal thalamus. Hippocampal, habenular, and ventral medial thalamic units did not show opposite MFB and RET effects. Threshold currents for the opposite MFB and RET effects are similar to those eliciting self-stimulation and escape respectively in several operated rats tested both behaviorally and neurophysiologically.

Rewarding and aversive brain stimulation opposite effects on medial thalamic units

Most of the neurons recorded from rat medial thalamus are inhibited by medial forebrain bundle and excited by reticular stimuli delivered at frequencies of 20–60 Hz. These opposite neural responses in single units parallel the opposite behavioral and motivational properties of the brain stimuli and may play a role in integrating reward and pain mechanisms.

Effects of rewarding and aversive brain stimulation on photic cortical evoked potentials

Brain stimulation classified behaviorally as rewarding or aversive was observed to have different effects on photic cortical evoked potentials in rats. Following a rewarding brain stimulation the early cortical response is attenuated and remains so for at least 25–30 sec; its recovery function is flat to 25–30 sec. Following an aversive stimulation, the response is severely attenuated for 5–6 sec but then recovers and overshoots control levels 15 sec following brain stimulation and thereafter.

Unit analysis of nociceptive mechanisms in the thalamus of the awake squirrel monkey.

THE PREVAILING CONCEPT of pain sensation has arisen from von Frey’s (14) extension of Miiller’s (37) doctrine of specific nerve energies. According to this view, there are cutaneous receptors which, when stimulated, generate impulses which are transmitted via central pathways anatomically distinct from those subserving other forms of somatic sensation. Evidence from animal (8, 20, 33, 46, 48, 57) and human (9, 25) experiments has indicated that activity in small diameter peripheral fibers is associated with pain responses and sensation. The pain-specificity concept is further supported by the work of Poggio and Mountcastle (43) in which it was found that, in the anesthetized cat, nearly 60yo of the units recorded from a posterolateral thalamic region responded only to noxious stimuli. The cortical projection of this thalamic area has subsequently been found to contain neurons which are apparently exclusively nociceptive (7). Other electrophysiological work (2, 22, 41) has suggested that certain of the medial and intralaminar thalamic nuclei may also contain exclusively nociceptive units. However, the concept of pain-specific elements has been challenged (23, 35, 39, 47, 51, 52) for a number of reasons; among these is the lack of evidence for morphologically distinct “pain receptors” (26, 52), the paucity of specifically high threshold mechanoreceptive neurons (23, 50) or fibers, (10, 19, 20, 46, 57) and the failure to account for clinical phenomena such as congenital abnormalities in pain perception and the persistence of pain following spinothalamic tractotomy (5,29,31,39,40). One alternative view has been that pain results from a unique patterning of impulses from nonspecific cutaneous receptors (51). bines certain elements of ‘ Still another concept of cutaneous sensation com‘specificity” and “pattern” theory (35) . The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that, in the awake animal, there are thalamic neurons which respond only to noxious stimuli. An additional purpose was to explore the possibility that certain thalamic neurons, responsive to innocuous stimuli, may show a quantitatively distinct response to noxious stimuli. Awake animals were used because there is evidence that anesthetics may profoundly influence the response properties

Slow and fast groups of pyramidal tract cells and their respective membrane properties.

Slow and fast groups of pyramidal tract cells and their respective membrane properties.

Avoidance Learning to Aversive Brain Stimulation

While training rats for self-stimulation of the brain, it was observed in 3 rats rhar the intra-cranial stimulation (ICS) was noxious. Two of the animals jumped completely out of the Skinner box at the onset of a current as low as 20 pA. It was decided to test them in shuttle-box avoidance learning with ICS (35-50 as the UCS

Determining thresholds of aversive brain stimulation

This study describes a method for determining thresholds of aversive brain stimulation. Chronically indwelling electrodes were implanted in selected brain areas of monkeys, who were then trained to press a lever in order to reduce the electric current stimulating these areas. In the absence of a response, the current rose in small steps until responding, which decreased the current in steps, was again initiated. Following the demonstration of rather precise, immediate control of lever pressing by the brain stimulation, variables affecting magnitude and variability of the threshold were explored. It was found that an increase in size of the current steps increased peak current levels and width of the oscillations. Using a variation of the technique where responding terminated brain stimulation (rather than reducing it in steps), it was shown that increasing the number of responses required for termination elevated threshold and lowered variability. An analgesic drug, anileridine, caused a threshold rise with larger doses having greater effects. In an experiment where maximum current was selectively limited, it was found that current levels the animal would tolerate continuously were levels that normally evoked responding. These data were interpreted as indicating that behavioral control by brain stimulation is complicated by discriminated avoidance behavior with lower current levels functioning as warning stimuli.

RABBIT EEG "THETA" RHYTHM: ITS ANATOMICAL SOURCE AND RELATION TO ACTIVITY IN SINGLE NEURONS

RABBIT EEG "THETA" RHYTHM: ITS ANATOMICAL SOURCE AND RELATION TO ACTIVITY IN SINGLE NEURONS

Responses evoked in the brain stem by tooth stimulation.

Responses evoked in the brain stem by tooth stimulation.

Learning motivated by electrical stimulation of the brain.

Learning motivated by electrical stimulation of the brain.

THE EFFECT OF SECTION OF THE MEDIAL LEMNISCUS ON PROPRIOCEPTIVE FUNCTIONS IN CHIMPANZEES AND MONKEYS

ArticlesTHE EFFECT OF SECTION OF THE MEDIAL LEMNISCUS ON PROPRIOCEPTIVE FUNCTIONS IN CHIMPANZEES AND MONKEYSOlof Sjöqvist, and Edwin A. WeinsteinOlof Sjöqvist, and Edwin A. WeinsteinPublished Online:01 Jan 1942https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.1942.5.1.69MoreSectionsPDF (1003 KB)Download PDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInWeChat Previous Back to Top Next Download PDF FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation Cited BySpinal Cord and Brain Stem Pathways for Afferents from Joints27 May 2008Altered Precision Grasping in Stumptail Macaques after Fasciculus Cuneatus Lesions10 July 2009 | Somatosensory & Motor Research, Vol. 9, No. 1Disruption of tactile discrimination in rats by bilateral stimulation of midbrain lemniscal pathwaysPhysiology & Behavior, Vol. 34, No. 2AgraphesthesiaJournal of the Neurological Sciences, Vol. 53, No. 3Tactile discrimination and somatosensory evoked responses after midbrain lesions in cats and ratsExperimental Neurology, Vol. 73, No. 3Transcommissural afferent projections of lemniscal and spino-reticulo-thalamic systemsNeuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, Vol. 10, No. 5Somatosensory SystemAdaptation of aversive brain stimulation: Effects of pulse frequencyBehavioral Biology, Vol. 13, No. 2Functional Organization of the Somatosensory CortexSomesthetic Effects of Damage to the Central Nervous SystemFunctional Alterations of Cerebral Sensory Areas by the Cerebellum*Some Aspects of Cerebellar PhysiologyJournal of Neurosurgery, Vol. 18, No. 4Functional Organization of Somatic Areas of the Cerebral CortexSurgery of the Cranial NervesDer Einfluß sensibler Reizung auf die Entladungsfrequenz kleinhirnabhängiger ReticulariszellenPflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, Vol. 259, No. 1Spino-pontine fibers in the cat. An experimental studyThe Journal of Comparative Neurology, Vol. 99, No. 2Erkrankungen des KleinhirnsCORTICAL NEUROLOGY: VISUAL DISTURBANCES AND THE OPTIC PART OF THE BODY IMAGE1 February 1952 | Medical Journal of Australia, Vol. 1, No. 7The course of the fibers arising from the nucleus gracilis and cuneatus of the catThe Journal of Comparative Neurology, Vol. 94, No. 3The Anatomy of the Nervous System8 February 2018 | Journal of Mental Science, Vol. 90, No. 378 More from this issue > Volume 5Issue 1January 1942Pages 69-74 https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.1942.5.1.69History Published online 1 January 1942 Published in print 1 January 1942 Metrics