Department of Physiology, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Brain Res. 2010 Apr 22;1326:62-7. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.02.032. Epub 2010 Feb 16.
To examine whether subgroups of vestibular nuclear neurons encode different frequency oscillation of horizontal linear motion, Fos immunohistochemistry was used to document neuronal subpopulations that were functionally activated by such otolithic stimulations. Conscious rats at P7, P14 and adult were subjected to sinusoidal linear acceleration along the transverse axis on the horizontal plane. Labyrinthectomized and/or stationary controls showed only sporadically scattered Fos-labeled neurons in the vestibular nuclei, confirming otolithic origin of c-fos expression. In each age group, Fos-labeled neurons responsive to high frequency stimulation (>1.5 Hz) were clustered in the lateral region of the medial vestibular nucleus while those to low frequency stimulation (0.5-1.0 Hz) were found in the medial portion of the medial vestibular nucleus. The number of these neurons increased with age. No apparent frequency-related distribution pattern of Fos-labeled neurons was observed in other vestibular nuclei and subgroups. Our findings therefore reveal subpopulations of central vestibular neurons responsive to different stimulus frequencies that correspond to head motions ranging from tilt to translation.
为了研究前庭神经核神经元亚群是否编码水平线性运动的不同频率振荡，我们使用 Fos 免疫组织化学方法记录了功能上被这种耳石刺激激活的神经元亚群。在 P7、P14 和成年期的清醒大鼠中，施加沿水平面横向的正弦线性加速度。迷路切除和/或静止对照仅在前庭核中显示偶尔散在的 Fos 标记神经元，证实 c-fos 表达的耳石起源。在每个年龄组中，对高频刺激（>1.5 Hz）有反应的 Fos 标记神经元聚集在内侧前庭核的外侧区域，而对低频刺激（0.5-1.0 Hz）有反应的 Fos 标记神经元则位于内侧前庭核的内侧部分。这些神经元的数量随年龄增长而增加。在其他前庭核和亚群中未观察到与 Fos 标记神经元有关的明显频率相关分布模式。因此，我们的研究结果揭示了对不同刺激频率有反应的中枢前庭神经元亚群，这些神经元与从倾斜到平移的头部运动相对应。
