Reticular Control of Cortical Unit Activity in the Cat

Abstract

<p>Extracellular action potentials were recorded from the suprasylvian gyrus of the cat and compared with slow potentials derived from the overlaying cortical surface in experiments designed to investigate the influences of potine reticular formation on these fast and slow voltage transients. When pontine afferents were blocked by mid-pontine lesion or reversible cooling, the number of recordedable spontaneous and injury discharges was reduced as compared to that recorded from preparations with lower pontine, post-trigeminal, lesions. Bilateral gasserectomies in post-trigeminal preparations did not reduce unit activity. However, the mean and median average firing rates and the patterns of spontaneously-active cells were not demonstrably different fro high and low pontine preparations.</p> <p>Either EEG synchrony or desynchronization was found to co-0exist with either high or low levels of unit activity.</p>