Mintz M, Knowlton B J
Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel.
Brain Res Bull. 1993;31(6):641-7. doi: 10.1016/0361-9230(93)90135-x.
The present study tested the relationship between horizontal head movement asymmetry and rotation behavior after unilateral kainic acid (KA) lesions of the pontine reticular formation (PRF). In line with previous studies, the lesions decreased the rate of ipsilateral spontaneous head movements and spared contralateral spontaneous head movements. In contrast to previous studies, however, these lesions facilitated ipsilateral rather than contralateral rotation. Histological analysis revealed that the ipsilateral rotation may be accounted for by distant effects of the KA injection in the PRF on the ipsilateral substantia nigra (SN). We conclude that unilateral lesions consisting solely of the PRF lead to a preference for contralateral horizontal head movements which then channel rotated away from the lesioned side. KA injections in the PRF, however, are also associated with distant lesions within the ipsilateral extrapyramidal system which override the channeling effect of the contralateral head movements and induce instead ipsilateral rotation.
本研究测试了脑桥网状结构（PRF）单侧注射海人酸（KA）后水平头部运动不对称与旋转行为之间的关系。与先前的研究一致，损伤降低了同侧自发头部运动的速率，而对侧自发头部运动未受影响。然而，与先前的研究不同的是，这些损伤促进了同侧而非对侧的旋转。组织学分析表明，同侧旋转可能是由于PRF内KA注射对同侧黑质（SN）的远距离影响所致。我们得出结论，仅由PRF组成的单侧损伤导致对侧水平头部运动的偏好，然后引导旋转远离损伤侧。然而，PRF内注射KA也与同侧锥体外系内的远距离损伤有关，这种损伤会覆盖对侧头部运动的引导作用，反而诱导同侧旋转。
