PMID: 12774831May 31, 2003Paper

NMDA-dependent and NMDA-independent neural processes in the bicucculline-disinhibited motor cortex of the cat during the acquisition and reproduction of a conditioned paw-on-support placing reflex

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology
V I Maiorov

Abstract

Neuron activity was recorded in the motor area of the cat cortex during acquisition of an operant conditioned reflex consisting of placing the forepaw on a support in conditions of local disinhibition by spontaneous diffusion of the GABA(A) receptor blocker bicucculline from the recording micropipette. The conditioned signal was electrical stimulation of the parietal cortex with a train of 3-5 impulses. Addition of 2-amino-5-phosphopentanoic acid (APV), an NMDA glutamate receptor blocker, led to disappearance of the secondary excitatory components (in the poststimulus interval 30-120 msec) from neuronal responses in the disinhibited cortex both to the "indifferent" (before training) and the conditioned stimulation of the parietal cortex, while excitatory reactions associated with elevation and placing of the paw on the support showed no significant change in the presence of APV. Acquisition of the operant conditioned reflex was accompanied by an increase in the amplitude (p < 0.006) and duration (p < 0.00002) of secondary responses and decreases in their latent periods (p < 0.00002). In some cases--in fixed conditioned reflexes--secondary responses to conditioned stimulation in the disinhibited cortex were transformed into trai...Continue Reading

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