Acetylcholine sensitivity of cerebellar neurones in the cat

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Abstract
Cholinomi-metics, acetylcholine antagonists and some other compounds of pharmacological interest were administered electrophoretically near neurones within the vermal cerebellar cortex of anaesthetized (pentobarbitone) and unanesthetized (cerveau isole) cats. The neurones were identified by position within the cortex, spontaneous activity, and the responses to afferent and antldromic stimulation. Purkinje cells, but neither granule nor basket cells, were excited by cholinomimetics, and the acetylcholine receptors had muscarinic properties. Excitation was often preceded by depression of the spontaneous firing. Intravenously administered atropine and dihydro-[beta]-erythroidine did not depress the synaptic excitation of cerebellar neurones evoked by impulses in mossy, climbing or parallel fibres. Acetylcholine is thus unlikely to be an excitatory transmitter within the feline cerebellum, particularly at mossy fiber-granule cell synapses, despite the presence of relatively high levels of acetylcholinesterase within mossy fiber terminals.