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EFFECTS OF DORSAL RAPHE STIMULATION ON ACTIVITIES OF CEREBELLAR NUCLEAR NEURONS IN THE RAT

CHEN WEN-YAN , WANG Jian-Jun, YU QI-XIANG

(Division of Physiology, Department of Biological Science and Tedmology, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093)

Abstract

The effects of stimulating dorsal raphe nucleus (DR)on activities of three deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) (medial，interposed and lateral nuclei) were investigated. The results were as follows:(1)Stimulation of DR elicited three types of responses，inhibition，excitation，and biphasic response (excitation-inhibition or inhibition-excitation)from DCN cells with responsive latencies ranging from 10 to 84 ms. The majority of responsive cells showed an inhibitory response (76%一90肠)with a latency less than 30 ms. (2) The spontaneous discharge frequencies of the DCN cells were 5 to 120 Hz.
The cells with higher spontaneous discharge frequencies showed low responsive rates to the DR stimulation，as compared with lower firing frequency cells. (3) The depressive effect of DR stimulation could be blocked by injection of 5-HTZ/I,, antagonist meth sergide (66. 7%一83. 3%).These results suggest that raphe-cerebellum serotonergic afferent fibers may be involved in the cerebellar sensorimotor integration process by exerting some modulatory effects on the DCN cell' s activities.

Key words: dorsal raphe nucleus;deep cerebellar nucleus; raphe-cerebellar projection; serotonergic fibers

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CHEN WEN-YAN , WANG Jian-Jun, YU QI-XIANG. EFFECTS OF DORSAL RAPHE STIMULATION ON ACTIVITIES OF CEREBELLAR NUCLEAR NEURONS IN THE RAT. Acta Physiol Sin 1996; 48 (2): (in Chinese with English abstract).