Investigation of the neural mechanism of the primate smooth pursuit eye movement

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Difference of function of monkey flocculus (FL) and ventral paraflocculus (vPEL) was revealed by both the physiological and anatomical investigations. Single unit activities of FL Purkinje cells of alert chronically prepared Japanese monkeys, monitored with a metal microelectrode technique, exhibited responses well correlated with vestibuloocular reflex eye movements, By contrast, those of vPEL Purkinje cells from the same group of monkeys exhibited responses well correlated with smooth pursuit eye movement. These functional dichotomy of FL and vPEL were also shown by anatomical methods using retrograde and/or anterograde axonal transportations. The FL was closely connected with vestibular nerve and unclei, whereas the vPEL was closely connected to pontine and cerebellar nuclei. These results consistently indicate that the FL and vPEL respectively control vestibuloocular reflex and voluntary smooth pursuit eye movements in the primate. These results were published in the meetings as follows : the annual meetings of Japan Physiological Society (1991, 1992, 1993), those of Japan Neuroscience Society (1990, 1992), International Symposium of Neuropsychology (1991, Italy) and also the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience of USA (1992).