| Abstract: | In the frog, we have recorded the activity of efferent and afferent fibers in the nerve of the horizontal semicircular canal in response to somatosensory stimulation. Recordings were made extracellularly by means of glass micropipettes filled with 2 M NaCl, and somatosensory stimulation was produced either by electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve (ipsi- or contralateral to the recording side) or by vibratory stimulation of the gastrocnemius. The discharge frequency of 43% of the efferent fibers recorded was significantly increased by such stimulation, while the activity of the others was unaffected. The discharge rate of the afferent fibers was either significantly increased (in about 11% of the cases when the results were pooled together) or significantly decreased (in about 22% of the cases) by stimulation of the somatosensory system. The latencies of the responses ranged from 5 to 50 ms. These results show that: somatosensory input can influence the activity of the vestibular apparatus at the most peripheral level; modulation of the afferent discharge is mediated by the efferent vestibular system (EVS); the influence of the EVS on the vestibular afferent activity is both inhibitory and facilitatory, and the responses to somatosensory stimulation are mediated by both long-latency polysynaptic and short-latency oligosynaptic pathways. The functional significance of these two pathways is discussed. |
