c-fos expression in the accessory oculomotor nuclei following neocerebellar stimulation

THE present study was carried out to determine whether, in the rat, the electric activation of the projection from the cerebellar lateral nucleus (LN) to the accessory oculomotor nuclei (AON; nucleus of posterior commissure, nucleus of Darkschewitsch, interstitial nucleus of Cajal) is capable of inducing c-fos expression. In particular, we compared the effects of a continuous LN stimulation at low-frequency (tonic stimulation) with those induced by high frequency pulse trains (phasic stimulation). The observed results show that the stimulation of LN induces c-fos expression in a significant proportion of neurones in the contralateral AON. Phasic stimulation was slightly more effective than tonic stimulation in producing c-fos expression.