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

通过生理和解剖学研究，揭示了猴绒毛(FL)和腹侧旁核(VPEL)功能的差异。用金属微电极技术监测警觉准备的日本猕猴FL浦肯野细胞的单位活动与前庭眼球反射眼球运动表现出良好的相关性，而来自同一组猴子的vPEL浦肯野细胞的单位活动则表现出与平稳追赶眼动良好相关的反应。利用逆行和/或顺行轴突运输的解剖学方法也显示了FL和vPEL的这些功能二分法。前庭神经和前庭神经与前庭神经联系紧密，vPEL与桥脑和小脑核联系密切。这些结果一致地表明，FL和vPEL分别控制灵长类动物的前庭眼球反射和自主顺畅追逐眼球运动。这些成果发表在以下会议上：日本生理学会年会(1991、1992、1993)、日本神经科学学会年会(1990、1992)、国际神经心理学研讨会(1991年，意大利)和美国神经科学学会年会(1992)。

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).