Post-hypoxic myoclonus induces Fos expression in the reticular thalamic nucleus and neurons in the brainstem

Post-hypoxic myoclonus is a movement disorder characterized by brief, sudden involuntary muscle jerks. Although the mechanism underlying this disorder remains unclear, earlier pharmacological studies indicated that aberrant activity of specific neuronal circuitry in the central nervous system causes this disorder. In the present study, Fos protein, an immediate-early gene product, was used as a marker of neuronal activity to identify the brain nuclei possibly involved in post-hypoxic myoclonus. We found that Fos protein was immunologically detected in the reticular thalamic nucleus (RT), the medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) as well as in the locus coeruleus (LC) and the periventricular gray substance (PVG) in post-hypoxic rats that developed myoclonus in response to auditory stimuli. Fos was not detected in these nuclei from rats that underwent 4 min of cardiac arrest without myoclonus. Electrolytic lesions of the RT or MLF but not the LC/PVG significantly reduced auditory stimulated myoclonus in the post-hypoxic rats. The results suggest that neuronal activity in the RT and the MLF plays a contributing role in post-hypoxic myoclonus.