To find out whether there exist additional regions in the pontine brainstem, apart from the phonatory motoneuron pools involved in vocal motor control, the effects of a localized blockade of excitatory neurotransmission in the pons were studied on squirrel monkey vocalization. Vocalization was elicited by electrical stimulation of the periaqueductal gray of the midbrain. Blockade was carried out by stereotaxic injections of kynurenic acid, a nonspecific glutamate antagonist. It was found that injections made into the ventrolateral pons around the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus and superior olive could block periaqueductally elicited vocalization. Injections were only effective ipsilaterally, not contralaterally to the stimulation site. The blockade was limited to one particular class of calls, all of which had in common a characteristic stereotyped frequency modulation over several kHz. It is concluded that critical processing steps of vocal motor control take place in the periolivary region.
REFERENCES
1.
Alajouanine
, T.
, and Thurel
, R.
(1933
). “La Diplégie Faciale Cérébrale Forme Corticale de la Paralysie Pseudobulbaire
,” Revue Neurologique
60
, 441
–458
.2.
Bauer
, G.
, Gerstenbrand
, F.
, and Heugl
, W.
(1980
). “Involuntary motor phenomena in the locked-in-syndrome
,” J. Neurology
223
, 191
–198
.3.
Bazett
, H. C.
, and Penfield
, W. G.
(1922
). “A study of the Sherrington decerebrate animal in the chronic as well as the acute condition
,” Brain
45
, 185
–265
.4.
Bell
, D. S.
(1968
). “Speech functions of the thalamus inferred from the effects of thalamotomy
,” Brain
91
, 619
–638
.5.
Emmers, R., and Akert, K. (1963). A Stereotaxic Atlas of the Brain of the Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus) (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison).
6.
Groswasser
, Z.
, Korn
, C.
, Groswasser-Reider
, J.
, and Solzi
, P.
(1988
). “Mutism associated with buccofacial apraxia and bihemispheric lesions
,” Brain Lang.
34
, 157
–168
.7.
Holstege
, G.
(1989
). “Anatomical study of the final common pathway for vocalization in the cat
,” J. Comp. Neurol.
284
, 242
–252
.8.
Jürgens
, U.
, and Ploog
, D.
(1970
). “Cerebral representation of vocalization in the squirrel monkey
,” Exp. Brain Res.
10
, 532
–554
.9.
Jürgens, U., and Ploog, D. (1988). “On the motor coordination of monkey calls” in The Physiological Control of Mammalian Vocalizations, edited by J. D. Newman (Plenum, New York), pp. 7–19.
10.
Jürgens
, U.
, and Pratt
, R.
(1979
). “Role of the periaqueductal gray in vocal expression of emotion
,” Brain Res.
167
, 367
–378
.11.
Jürgens
, U.
, Kirzinger
, A.
, and von Cramon
, D.
(1982
). “The effects of deep-reaching lesions in the cortical face area on phonation. A combined case report and experimental monkey study
,” Cortex
18
, 125
–140
.12.
Jürgens
, U.
, Lu
, C.-L.
, and Quondamatteo
, F.
(1996
). “C-fos expression during vocal mobbing in the New World monkey Saguinus fuscicollis
,” Eur. J. Neurosci.
8
, 2
–10
.13.
Kanai
, T.
, and Wang
, S. C.
(1962
). “Localization of the central vocalization mechanism in the brainstem of the cat
,” Exp. Neurol.
6
, 426
–434
.14.
Kent
, R. D.
, Netsell
, R.
, and Abbs
, J. H.
(1979
). “Acoustic characteristics of dysarthria associated with cerebellar disease
,” J. Speech Hear. Res.
22
, 627
–648
.15.
Kirzinger
, A.
(1985
). “Cerebellar lesion effects on vocalization of the Squirrel Monkey
,” Behav. Brain Res.
16
, 177
–181
.16.
Kirzinger
, A.
, and Jürgens
, U.
(1985
). “The effects of brain stem lesions on vocalization in the Squirrel Monkey
,” Brain Res.
358
, 150
–162
.17.
Kirzinger
, A.
, and Jürgens
, U.
(1991
). “Vocalization-correlated single-unit activity in the brain stem of the Squirrel Monkey
,” Exp. Brain Res.
84
, 545
–560
.18.
Lechtenberg
, R.
, and Gilman
, S.
(1978
). “Speech disorders in cerebellar disease
,” Ann. Neurol.
3
, 285
–290
.19.
Lee
, M. S.
, Lee
, S. B.
, and Kim
, W. C.
(1996
). “Spasmodic dysphonia associated with a left ventrolateral putaminal lesion
,” Neurology
47
, 827
–828
.20.
Magoun
, H. W.
, Atlas
, D.
, Ingersoll
, E. H.
, and Ranson
, S. W.
(1937
). “Associated facial, vocal and respiratory components of emotional expression: An experimental study
,” J. Neurol. Psychopath.
17
, 241
–255
.21.
Metter
, E. J.
, Jackson
, C.
, Kempler
, D.
, Riege
, W. H.
, Hanson
, W. R.
, Mazziotta
, J. C.
, and Phelps
, M. E.
(1986
). “Left hemisphere intracerebral hemorrhages studied by (F-18)-fluorodeoxyglucose PET
,” Neurology
36
, 1155
–1162
.22.
Monnier
, M.
, and Willi
, H.
(1953
). “Die integrative Tätigkeit des Nervensystems beim meso-rhombo-spinalen Anencephalus (Mittelhirnwesen)
,” Monatsschr. Psychiat. Neurol.
126
, 239
–273
.23.
Samra
, K.
, Riklan
, M.
, Levita
, E.
, Zimmerman
, J.
, Waltz
, J. M.
, Bergmann
, L.
, and Cooper
, J. S.
(1969
). “Language and speech correlates of anatomically verified lesions in thalamic surgery for Parkinsonism
,” J. Speech Hear. Res.
12
, 510
–540
.24.
Schuller, G. (1998). Neural Mechanisms of Vocal Control in Bats, 5th Internet World Congress on Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University, Canada, Dec. 7–16.
25.
Thoms
, G.
, and Jürgens
, U.
(1987
). “Common input of the cranial motor nuclei involved in phonation in Squirrel Monkey
,” Exp. Neurol.
95,
85
–99
.
This content is only available via PDF.
© 2000 Acoustical Society of America.
2000
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.