McCormick D A, Steinmetz J E, Thompson R F
Brain Res. 1985 Dec 16;359(1-2):120-30. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(85)91419-2.
The dentate-interpositus nuclei of the cerebellum are known to be critically involved in the production of the classically conditioned eyeblink response in the rabbit. The rostro-medial portions of the inferior olivary complex (rmIO) project to these nuclei as well as receive projections from the fifth sensory nuclei. Lesions of the rmIO caused a previously classically conditioned eyeblink response to slowly decrease in amplitude and frequency with continued paired conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-UCS) training in a manner which was identical to extinction of the learned response in control animals. The lesion had no effect on the performance of the unconditioned response. Lesions of the rmIO before training prevented learning from occurring. Lesions of other portions of the IO or of the reticular formation did not specifically affect the learned response. We conclude that the rmIO is critically involved in the learning and maintenance of the classically conditioned eyeblink response. We propose that the rmIO may serve as a pathway for information from the unconditioned stimulus to reach the cerebellum, and as such may in fact be the essential reinforcing or teaching input for the learning of classically conditioned responses. These results support the hypothesis that the cerebellum contains neuronal changes which are a critical portion of the memory trace for the conditioned response.
已知小脑的齿状核-间位核在兔子经典条件性眨眼反应的产生中起着关键作用。下橄榄复合体的 rostro-内侧部分（rmIO）投射到这些核团，同时也接收来自第五感觉核的投射。rmIO 损伤后，在持续进行配对条件刺激-非条件刺激（CS-UCS）训练时，先前经典条件化的眨眼反应的幅度和频率会缓慢下降，其方式与对照动物中习得反应的消退相同。该损伤对非条件反应的表现没有影响。训练前 rmIO 损伤会阻止学习的发生。下橄榄核其他部分或网状结构的损伤不会特异性地影响习得反应。我们得出结论，rmIO 在经典条件性眨眼反应的学习和维持中起着关键作用。我们提出，rmIO 可能作为一条通路，使来自非条件刺激的信息到达小脑，因此实际上可能是学习经典条件反应的重要强化或教导性输入。这些结果支持了这样一种假设，即小脑包含神经元变化，这些变化是条件反应记忆痕迹的关键部分。
