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Volume 16, Number 24, Issue of December 15, 1996 pp. 8149-8159
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience

Spontaneous Discharge and Peripherally Evoked Orofacial Responses of Trigemino-Thalamic Tract Neurons during Wakefulness and Sleep

Received Aug. 7, 1996; revised Sept. 26, 1996; accepted Sept. 27, 1996.

Brian E. Cairns, Shelly A. McErlane, Miguel C. Fragoso, William G. Jia, and Peter J. Soja

Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z3

In the present study, ongoing and evoked activity of antidromically identified trigemino-thalamic tract (TGT) neurons was examined over the sleep-wake cycle in cats. There was no difference in the mean spike discharge rate of TGT neurons when quiet sleep (QS) and active sleep (AS) were compared with wakefulness (W). However, tooth pulp-evoked responses of TGT neurons were decreased during AS when compared to W. Conversely, the responses of TGT neurons to air puff activation of facial hair mechanoreceptors reciprocally increased during AS when compared to W. The present data demonstrate that ascending sensory information emanating from distinct orofacial areas is differentially modified during the behavioral state of AS. Specifically, the results obtained suggest that during AS, sensory information arising from hair mechanoreceptors is enhanced, whereas information arising from tooth pulp afferents is suppressed. These data may provide functional evidence for an AS-related gate control mechanism of sensory outflow to higher brain centers.

Key words: behavioral state; brainstem; hair mechanoreceptor; main sensory nucleus; nucleus oralis; sensory; sleep; tooth pulp; trigeminothalamic

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J.-M. Edeline, Y. Manunta, and E. Hennevin Auditory Thalamus Neurons During Sleep: Changes in Frequency Selectivity, Threshold, and Receptive Field Size J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2000; 84(2): 934 - 952. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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