Cerebellar Output - a matter of regularity
Speaker(s): Freek Hoebeek, Erasmus MC Rotterdam
For the last decades cerebellar research focused predominantly on thecerebellar cortex. The output of the cerebellar cortex, which is formed by
inhibitory Purkinje cells, has been thought to be rate coded. However,
recent evidence indicates an additional, important role for the regularity
of Purkinje cell spiking. In this seminar I will discuss datasets that
link altered levels of regularity in Purkinje cell spiking to changes in
the activity of neurons in the cerebellar nuclei, which form the true
output of the cerebellum, and how this aberrant cerebellar output affects
motor behavior. Using in vivo electrophysiological techniques and several
mutant mouse models we have been able to establish several key links
between increased or decreased irregularity in Purkinje cell spiking and
ataxia and memory consolidation. Finally, I will address activity pattern
of cerebellar nuclei neurons and potential links to ataxia and epilepsy.
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