Lestienne F, Caillier P
Neurosci Lett. 1986 Feb 14;64(1):109-15. doi: 10.1016/0304-3940(86)90672-5.
The role of the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNpr) has been studied in the head-free monkey during orienting behaviour in response to visual instruction signals triggering head positioning and conditioned arm movement. During the behavioural responses we recorded the electromyographic activities of neck muscles and triceps brachii, head movement, horizontal electrooculogram and single unit activity of SNpr neurons. Activity of 38 neurons located in the medial part of SNpr were analysed during the visuo-motor task. Forty percent of these units showed a moderate decrease in tonic firing rate during postural preparation preceding the orientation toward eccentric visual signal. This decrease, unrelated with saccadic eye movements per se, was followed by a marked pause observed when the rewarded stimulus was switched on and the conditioned arm movement was executed to get the reward. These data suggest that the pause in discharge of these SNpr neurons are time locked with behaviourally relevant visual stimuli and/or appropriate motor responses.
在无头部的猴子中，研究了黑质网状部（SNpr）在定向行为中的作用，该行为是对触发头部定位和条件性手臂运动的视觉指令信号做出的反应。在行为反应过程中，我们记录了颈部肌肉和肱三头肌的肌电活动、头部运动、水平眼电图以及SNpr神经元的单单位活动。在视觉运动任务期间，分析了位于SNpr内侧部分的38个神经元的活动。在朝向偏心视觉信号定向之前的姿势准备期间，这些神经元中有40%的单位在紧张性放电率上出现适度下降。这种下降与眼跳运动本身无关，随后在奖励刺激开启且执行条件性手臂运动以获取奖励时观察到明显的暂停。这些数据表明，这些SNpr神经元放电的暂停与行为相关的视觉刺激和/或适当的运动反应在时间上是锁定的。
