Inferior olive inactivation decreases the excitability of the intracerebellar and lateral vestibular nuclei in the rat.

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Abstract
In rats under sodium pentobarbitone anesthesia the inferior olive region was reversibly inactivated by applying a cooling probe to the ventral surface of the medulla. Unitary activity was recorded from the fastigial, interpositus and Deiters nuclei. Identification of units was based on the presence of a dye spot, left by the recording micropipette. In the Deiters nucleus, an additional criterion of identification was the antidromic activation from spinal cord stimulation. Following cooling of the inferior olive of 1 side, suppression of the activity of all 14 Dieters neurons and 17 of 20 neurons recorded from the intracerebellar nuclei was observed. In 2 of 7 Deiters neurons tested the antidromic invasion elicited by spinal cord stimulation was suppressed. In rats whose inferior olive was previously destroyed, cooling of the inferior olive region was not followed by the powerful depression of spike activity seen in the vestibular and cerebellar nuclei cells in the intact rats. The olivocerebellar system is very important in regulating the level of excitability of the subcerebellar structures and in controlling both postural mechanisms and the processing of information relating to sensorimotor integration.