[Observations on neuronal activity in frontal cortex and EMGs in monkeys during performing noxious and innocuous heat...

To study the functional implication of neuronal responses in frontal cortex to noxious and innocuous heat stimuli, experiments were carried out on two monkeys (Macaca mulatta) during performing a delayed discrimination GO/NO-GO task. The animals were trained to hold a lever for at least 3 s in the response period when an innocuous heat stimulus had been applied to the forearm in the cue period, or release it within 1 s with a noxious one. After a criterion of 90% of correct responses in 3 successive days was reached, single neuronal activity was recorded from the frontal cortex along with EMGs from six muscles in both arms. Of 142 task-related neurons recorded, 87 (66.4%) were related to heat, 34 to visual, and 21 to both visual and heat stimuli. Among the heat-related neurons, 22 were responsive to noxious heat, 18 to innocuous heat, and 47 to both. Of the neurons responding to both noxious and innocuous heat stimuli, 4 neurons showed changes in discharge rates, depending on the type of stimuli. In most cases, muscular activities just appeared at the moment of lever pressing and/or releasing in m. extensor digitorium communis, m. flexor carpi ulnaris and m. flexor carpi radialis of the performing arm. No regular muscular activities appeared in other muscles and in other periods of the task. The result showed that the neuronal responses in frontal cortex elicited by heat stimuli in the cue period were not related directly to the initiation and modulation of behaviours.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)