Discharge patterns of Purkinje cells in cats anaesthetized with alpha-chloralose

1. Micro-electrodes have been used to record from 119 Purkinje (P) cells in the paramedian lobule of the cerebellum in cats anaesthetized with alpha-chloralose. 2. The spontaneous discharge rate and degree of irregularity of the discharge varied very much from one cell to another; the over-all mean rate (about 25/sec) was a little lower than has been reported either for barbiturate anaesthetized or for decerebrate unanaesthetized preparations. 3. Following electrical stimulation of a peripheral nerve, most P cells responded with both simple spikes and a climbing fibre response. This initial response was usually succeeded by a prolonged period of silence (over-all mean duration 350 msec) before resumption of the tonic simple spike discharge. Similar response-silence sequences could also be evoked by mechanical stimulation such as a tap applied to the pads of the forepaw. 4. Electrical stimulation of the inferior olive evoked climbing fibre responses followed by a prolonged pause in the simple spike discharge of the cell. 5. In six individual preparations, recordings were made both from P cells of the paramedian lobule and from neurones of nucleus interpositus (to which the former project). Comparison of the responses of the two types of neurone to peripheral nerve and inferior olivary stimulation showed that the end of the pauses in P cell firing correlated well with the end of a prolonged period of facilitation of the interpositus neurones. 6. These results support the hypothesis advanced in an earlier report (Armstrong, Cogdell & Harvey, 1975) that the prolonged facilitatory responses of interpositus neurones are essentially disinhibitory responses resulting from reduction in the activity of overlying cells, and that responses of P cells and of interpositus neurones consist, in general, of modulations of activity which are mutually out of phase.