Canu M H, Buser P, Rougeul A
Institut des Neurosciences, CNRS-UPMC, Paris, France.
Neuroscience. 1994 Jun;60(3):679-88. doi: 10.1016/0306-4522(94)90496-0.
Cat behavioural states of attentive fixation on a target are associated with episodes of electrocortical rhythms at 40 Hz ("beta rhythms") in the parietal cortex. Previous field potential studies indicate that the nucleus posterior pars medialis of the thalamus displays this particular rhythmic activity. We investigated single units of the nucleus posterior pars medialis and its surrounding nuclei to assess their participation in the cortical beta rhythms. Only a small proportion of thalamic cells underwent changes in their firing pattern during beta episodes. "Beta-related cells" were localized in the nucleus posterior pars medialis or its immediate vicinity; no such beta-related cells were found in other regions of the lateral thalamus. Some beta-related cells showed a one-spike to one-wave relationship ("homorhythmicity"), while others displayed a prolonged decrease or a suppression of their firing throughout each beta episode ("pause cells"). For comparison, neurons in the same thalamic area were also recorded during sleep episodes with slow waves and spindles: there was no correlation between spindles and cell firing. Thus, the nucleus posterior pars medialis thalamic nucleus contains cells whose firing is correlated with the beta rhythms. No such correlation was found with sleep spindles.
猫对目标的专注注视行为状态与顶叶皮质中40赫兹的电皮质节律（“β节律”）发作有关。先前的场电位研究表明，丘脑后内侧核显示出这种特定的节律活动。我们研究了丘脑后内侧核及其周围核团的单个神经元，以评估它们在皮质β节律中的参与情况。在β节律发作期间，只有一小部分丘脑细胞的放电模式发生了变化。“β相关细胞”位于丘脑后内侧核或其紧邻区域；在丘脑外侧的其他区域未发现此类β相关细胞。一些β相关细胞呈现出一峰对一波的关系（“同节律性”），而其他细胞则在每个β节律发作期间其放电持续减少或受到抑制（“暂停细胞”）。为作比较，在睡眠慢波和纺锤波发作期间也记录了同一丘脑区域的神经元：纺锤波与细胞放电之间没有相关性。因此，丘脑后内侧核含有其放电与β节律相关的细胞。在睡眠纺锤波方面未发现这种相关性。
