QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, June 2, 2004, 24(22):5109-5118; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0235-04.2004

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by de Dios Navarro-López, J. Articles by Yajeya, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by de Dios Navarro-López, J. Articles by Yajeya, J. Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Hazardous Substances DB GLUTAMIC ACID HYDROCHLORIDE

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
A Cholinergic Synaptically Triggered Event Participates in the Generation of Persistent Activity Necessary for Eye Fixation

Juan de Dios Navarro-López,¹ Juan Carlos Alvarado,² Javier Márquez-Ruiz,³ Miguel Escudero,³ José M. Delgado-García,¹ and Javier Yajeya⁴

¹División de Neurociencias, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013-Sevilla, Spain, ²Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, ³Departamento de Fisiología y Zoología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, 41012-Sevilla, Spain, and ⁴Departamento de Fisiología y Farmacología, Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León, Universidad de Salamanca, 37007-Salamanca, Spain

An exciting topic regarding integrative properties of the nervous system is how transient motor commands or brief sensory stimuli are able to evoke persistent neuronal changes, mainly as a sustained, tonic action potential firing. A persisting firing seems to be necessary for postural maintenance after a previous movement. We have studied in vitro and in vivo the generation of the persistent neuronal activity responsible for eye fixation after spontaneous eye movements. Rat sagittal brainstem slices were used for the intracellular recording of prepositus hypoglossi (PH) neurons and their synaptic activation from nearby paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF) neurons. Single electrical pulses applied to the PPRF showed a monosynaptic glutamatergic projection on PH neurons, acting on AMPA-kainate receptors. Train stimulation of the PPRF area evoked a sustained depolarization of PH neurons exceeding (by hundreds of milliseconds) stimulus duration. Both duration and amplitude of this sustained depolarization were linearly related to train frequency. The train-evoked sustained depolarization was the result of interaction between glutamatergic excitatory burst neurons and cholinergic mesopontine reticular fibers projecting onto PH neurons, because it was prevented by slice superfusion with cholinergic antagonists and mimicked by cholinergic agonists. As expected, microinjections of cholinergic antagonists in the PH nucleus of alert behaving cats evoked a gaze-holding deficit consisting of a re-centering drift of the eye after each saccade. These findings suggest that a slow, cholinergic, synaptically triggered event participates in the generation of persistent activity characteristic of PH neurons carrying eye position signals.

Key words: acetylcholine; glutamate; neuronal integrator; prepositus hypoglossi; saccades; oculomotor system

---

Received Jan 21, 2004; revised April 18, 2004; accepted April 19, 2004.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. L. Nieto-Gonzalez, L. Carrascal, P. Nunez-Abades, and B. Torres Muscarinic Modulation of Recruitment Threshold and Firing Rate in Rat Oculomotor Nucleus Motoneurons J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2009; 101(1): 100 - 111. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Idoux, M. Serafin, P. Fort, P.-P. Vidal, M. Beraneck, N. Vibert, M. Muhlethaler, and L. E. Moore Oscillatory and Intrinsic Membrane Properties of Guinea Pig Nucleus Prepositus Hypoglossi Neurons In Vitro J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2006; 96(1): 175 - 196. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. de Dios Navarro-Lopez, J. M. Delgado-Garcia, and J. Yajeya Cooperative Glutamatergic and Cholinergic Mechanisms Generate Short-Term Modifications of Synaptic Effectiveness in Prepositus Hypoglossi Neurons J. Neurosci., October 26, 2005; 25(43): 9902 - 9906. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help