Cerebellar output regulation by the climbing and mossy fibers with and without the inferior olive

Abstract The activity of the olivocerebellar complex and the structures related in series with it have been studied using the complementary action of harmaline and 3‐acetylpyridine to isolate the two principal inputs to the cerebellar Purkinje cells. The activities of the various nuclei as well as the entire brain have been simultaneously monitored using the [ 14 C]2‐deoxyglucose method under the various combined effects of the pharmacological agents. (1) Tremogenic doses of harmaline increased the frequency of discharge in selected parts of the olivocerebellar system, increasing climbing fiber input and reducing Purkinje cell simple spike discharges in corresponding parts of the cerebellar cortex. The metabolic activity increased in the inferior olive and in the red nucleus. The results are interpreted as a net reduction of Purkinje cell inhibition on their target neurons, leading to a facilitatory cerebellar output. (2) Systemic injection of neurotoxic doses of 3‐acetylpyridine selectively produced total degeneration of the neurons in the inferior olive, resulting in the suppression of complex spikes and a net increase in simple spike output from the Purkinje cells. The metabolic consequences were a reduction or absence in the inferior olive, decrease in the red nucleus, and increases in the Purkinje cell target neuron regions, including the intracerebellar and vestibular nuclei. The study of long survival times following the neu‐ rotoxic treatment revealed a transient metabolic marking of the inferior olive during the active glial processes accompanying the degeneration. In other parts the radioautographic changes caused by the destruction of the inferior olive persisted for about 1 month after the administration of the drug. (3) Tremogenic doses of harmaline were given to rats at different times following treatment with 3‐acetylpyridine. It was demonstrated that: (a)intoxication of the inferior olive started within the second hour after 3‐acetylpyridine administration, corresponding to the time at which the metabolic response to harmaline was also abolished; and (b) the increased metabolic activity produced by harmaline in the olivocerebellar complex was a consequence of an increased activity of the neurons of the inferior olive rather than a direct pharmacological effect of the drug. (4) Partial lesions of the inferior olive led to increased metabolic activity of those parts of the intracerebellar nuclei topographically related to the destroyed parts of the inferior olive. (5) In 3‐acetylpyridine‐treated animals, local ablation as well as local inactivation of the cerebellar cortex produced localized suppression of the intense labeling in the intracerebellar nuclei obtained in these animals. Since these regions receive synapses which are normally inhibitory, suppression of labeling clearly supports the hypothesis that regional marking may very well be produced by the activity of the presynaptic terminals themselves. The increased marking following suppression of the olivocerebellar system was thus interpreted as due to an increased activity in the simple spikes, producing an increased inhibitory influence of the Purkinje cell and therefore a disfacilitatory cerebellar output.