Direct projection of pause neurons to nystagmus-related excitatory burst neurons in the cat pontine reticular formation

Brain-stem pause neurons (PNs) are inhibitory neurons which cease their tonic firing about 20 ms prior to the quick phase of horizontal vestibular nystagmus in either direction. One group of nystagmus-related burst neurons just rostral to the abducens nucleus exhibits a burst of spikes before and during the quick phase to the ipsilateral side--excitatory burst neurons (EBNs). The present study supported the conclusion that PNs project to, and tonically inhibit EBNs during the slow phase and that the burst of activity of EBNs at the quick phase is partly caused by the abrupt release from pauser inhibition. The evidence leading to this conclusion is: simultaneous recording of PNs and EBNs showed close alternation of firing; PNs were antidromically activated from the EBN region; systematic microstimulation tracks within the EBN region showed an antidromic activation pattern of low threshold sites separated by high threshold sites consistent with PN axonal branching in the EBN region; during the nystagmus slow phase there were positive field potentials in the EBN region, followed by an abrupt negative deflection whose onset was synchronous with the last pauser spike; when single PN spikes were used to trigger averages of extracellular field potentials in the EBN region (postspike averaging), a consistent short-latency positivity was observed. This study shows an additional connection in the premotor neural network responsible for the generation of the quick phase of horizontal vestibular nystagmus.