Effects of deuterium oxide and galvanic vestibular stimulation on visual cortical cell function

/he spontaneous and evoked unit activities of complex visual cortical cells were recorded from Brodmann's area 18 in immobilized, unanesthetized cats before, during, and after stimulation of the vestibular system. The vestibular system was stimulated by intravenous injection of deuterium oxide (D2O)--a noted nystagmogenic agent (14)--or by direct galvanic stimulation of the labyrinth. Measures of the receptive-field areas, poststimulus time histograms, directional preferences, and the optimal speed of the light bar stimulating the cell were obtained before and after the application of D2O. Directional preferences were determined in a novel manner, using a method derived from a hierarchical clustering technique (19). Data were collected and analyzed from a) visual cortical cells in cats with intact labyrinths, b) visual cortical cells in cats following bilateral labrinthectomies, and c) nonvisual cortical cells in cats with intact labyrinths. In cats with intact labyrinths, D2O changed the optimal length of the light bar that was able to stimulate the cortical cell as well as the path on which it evoked the response of the cell. Both values, which constitute the receptive field of the cell, changed approximately proportionately. This effect usually lasts for less than 4.5 h. The other cellular characteristics were also altered by the D2O. Galvanic stimulation of the labyrinth resembles, in its effects, the injection of D2O. In labyrinth-intact cats, the time course of area 18 spontaneous activity dramatically increased 30 min or more after D2O was administered. It peaked 2-3 h later and still had not returned to preinjection levels even 7 h after the D2O administration. In bilaterally labyrinthectomized cats, the spontaneous activity of the visual cells (and the other cellular characteristics studied) did not change following D2O administration. In nonvisual cells from labyrinth-intact cats, the spontaneous activity demonstrated a slight but significant decrease over time after D2O injection. (The other measures, however, did not change.) In pilot studies (about 2 wk prior to the electrophysiological experiments), the cats were injected with D2O. Within 8-10 min afterward, signs of positional nystagmus commenced; and within 30 min, problems in maintaining balance were noted. This continued for 7-8 h before disappearing. In the labyrinthectomized animals, such effects were not observed. These results, therefore, add support to other evidence that suggests that D2O works directly through the vestibular apparatus to produce the effects it does (and not through interference with certain cellular processes).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)