Effects of serotonin on dorsal horn dorsal spinocerebellar tract neurons

Effects of ionophoretic application of serotonin and of one of its agonists were tested on responses of dorsal horn dorsal spinocerebellar tract neurons evoked by electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves. Both drugs depressed monosynaptically evoked actions of group II muscle afferents; they decreased the number and/or increased the latency of spike potentials evoked by these afferents. In contrast, synaptic actions of low-threshold cutaneous afferents (mono- or oligosynaptic) were facilitated in the majority of the neurons, as judged by decrease in the latency of spike potentials evoked by stimulation of a cutaneous nerve and/or an increase in the number of these potentials. It is proposed that facilitatory actions assist in maintaining tonic discharges of dorsal spinocerebellar tract neurons in some movements and that the selective control of group II input is used to correlate activity of spinal and supraspinal neurons. Both actions may be subserved by tight contacts between serotoninergic nerve fibres and dorsal spinocerebellar tract neurons, which have been revealed in a parallel study.