Horizontal linear and angular responses of neurons in the medial vestibular nucleus of the decerebrate cat

Responses to linear accelerations in the earth-horizontal plane (typically provoked by tilts of the head or body) are characterized by a stimulus direction that produces the maximal excitation. Although changes in cardiovascular, sympathetic, and respiratory outflow are maximized during pitch, no collection of central vestibular neurons had been identified where pitch responses predominate. In the present study, response properties of neurons in the medial vestibular nucleus were examined in decerebrate cats placed on a turntable. Activation of otolith afferents was provided by constant velocity rotation with the turntable axis tilted 5 degrees from the vertical. Responsive neurons exhibited a sinusoidal modulation in their firing rate; the optimal excitatory stimulus direction was derived from responses to clockwise and counterclockwise rotations. Many of these neurons were also tested for input from horizontal semicircular canals using 0.5 Hz sinusoidal rotation about an earth-vertical axis. Of 22 tilt-sensitive neurons in the medial vestibular nucleus whose optimal stimulus direction was determined, 9 were best stimulated by pitch, 10 by stimuli in one of the two vertical semicircular canal planes, and 3 by roll. Of the 33 neurons in this nucleus tested for possible convergent inputs from the otolith organs and the horizontal semicircular canals, 8 responded to both the constant velocity (otolith) stimulus and to the sinusoidal rotation, 7 appeared to receive otolith, but not horizontal canal, input, while 18 had a canal, but no otolith, response. Thus, besides serving as a relay for horizontal canal signals, the medial vestibular nucleus may also be an important relay for information about orientation within the sagittal (pitch) plane.