Although an extensive body of literature exists describing the properties of cells found in the primate vestibular nuclei (VN), the rat vestibular nuclei have not been explored in a comparable manner in order to allow for meaningful comparisons. Previous single-unit experiments in rat VN did not track eye movements and were performed in anesthetized or paralyzed preparations. This study characterizes the properties of vestibular-related cells in awake, behaving rats, using standard single-unit methodology, and video oculography to monitor eye movements, thus providing the first description that is comparable to the primate literature. Male, Long-Evans rats were head restrained and sinusoidally rotated at frequencies ranging from 0.1-1.0Hz, reaching a maximum velocity of 100 deg/sec. Eye position sensitivity was assessed by recording cell activity as the rat fixated at different locations. We show the presence of cells that are sensitive only to vestibular stimulation, equivalent to vestibular-only cells in primates. These cells have no eye sensitivity, and show a moderate increase in head velocity sensitivity with increasing stimulus frequency. Additionally, we show the presence of cells with eye movement-related sensitivities that bear a close resemblance to primate eye-head neurons. These results suggest that the rat vestibular nuclei may contain a similar cross section of cells as those found in the primate vestibular nuclei. These results shed light on the type of information in the vestibular nuclei that is available for other upstream systems, and is particularly relevant to spatial orientation, which has been shown to depend on vestibular input.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.97893 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Andrei, Ariana R. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Division of Neuroscience.) |
| Rights | © Ariana R. Andrei, 2005 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002330775, proquestno: AAIMR24602, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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