Reaction of striatal (putamen) neurons on motor and non-motor fragments of behaviour in monkeys

Each putamen neuron responded to several fragments of a behavioural programme, the pattern of such connections being not constant. The response could disappear in a different variant of the behavioural programme while a response to another fragment could occur. Therefore additional variants of the programme were followed by an increase in number of functional modality of a neuron. This was more obvious in motor fragments of the programme. The data obtained suggest that the putamen neurons have no particular specifics, and so involvement of its units in sensory-cognitive processes seem to be more stable than in organisation of movements.     

Experimental study of the ignition of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and stabilization of their combustion by an arc discharge

The ignition of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and stabilization of their combustion by an arc discharge in a supersonic air flow are investigated experimentally. The discharge parameters and flame characteristics (ignition time lag) are determined. It is shown that the average energy deposited in the flow by the igniter is five orders of magnitude less than the kinetic energy of the main gas flow.     

Combinations of active striatal neurons connected selectively with certain behavioral actions of the monkey Macaca mulatta

At present there is widely spread concept of populational coding of information by brain neurons; it is based first of all on results of comparison of neuronal activity with parameters of the used stimulus. Relation between the neuronal activity coding and the observed behavioral actions has been practically not studied. In the present work, neuronal impulse activity has been studied in groups of 6 neurons recorded in parallel. Distribution of frequencies of the presence of cases of excitation of one or several cells has been established to differ statistically significantly form the theoretical distribution of the same values; this indicates that under real conditions, the appearance of individual combinations of active neurons is not random, but is connected to a certain degree with conditions of experiment. The selective combinations of neuronal activity have revealed to be different at stages of program. This indicates that organization of different behavioral actions is associated with activities of certain combinations of neurons.     

Populations of behavior-reactive neurons in the monkey neostriatum

Comparative analysis of the unit activity of the monkey putamen during multistage behavior showed that neurons of the putamen are active during all the behavioral actions. It was established that the number of the behavior-related neurons changes considerably less than number of neurons which reorganize their activity at the time. Reorganization of unit activity in the putamen is considered as reflecting the efferent code which controls behavior, and the degree of reorganization--as a measure of change of this code in relation to organization of ongoing behavioral action. It has been discovered that the change in the number of the active neurons at various steps of behavior and reorganization of their activity occurs independently. It may be related to two main afferent systems of striatum: ascending from rhe brain stem, and corticofugal which brings differentiated information to the neuronal net of striatum from various parts of the cortex.     

Determination with a microelectrode of membrane potential of giant human erythrocytes obtained by La(3+)-induced fusion

The effect of La3+ on the fusion of erythrocytes of blood stored for a week at +4 degrees C was studied. It was shown that the fusion of erythrocytes begins after one day of storage of blood. The most intensive fusion of erythrocytes was observed on day 4 of blood storage. As a result, giant cells with a size of 100 microns and more arise. The electrical potential of giant cells was measured using a microelectrode and was -6.6 +/- 1.5 mV.     

Physiology of secretory cells in the mouse mammary gland

Secretory cells' membrane potential and transepithelial potential difference in the mouse mammary gland diminish within 2.5 hours following breast-feeding of the litter. The transepithelial resistance for up to 20 hours after the feeding did not drop below 40-70 k omega. The secret pressure in the mammary gland does not grow during this period. Therefore an increase of interval between litter feeding up to 20 hours does not entail any mechanical lesion of the secretory epithelium. The latter's cells seem to secrete organic and inorganic substances in concentrations which do not change significantly during their transfer along the outgoing ducts.     

Coding the differently directed behavioral actions by the putamen neurons of the monkey brain

Spike activity related to the problem of alternative choice of behavioral actions was recorded in the putamen of the monkey brain. The patterns of low and high activities were identified. Each neuron during different behaviour actions could generate any kind of patterns. The differences between neuronal compositions with patterns of high activity, at the left and right direction of the task, were obtained during decision making about the movement direction, and also at the end of the movement. Distinctions between neuronal compositions with patterns of low activity at this time, on the contrary, diminished. The neuronal compositions with patterns of low activity were much more before the conditioned signal, when the animal did not yet know the task, and at the end of the program when the problem was already solved. The data obtained show that the putamen units control different directions of actions by a multilevel address coding, mainly through reorganizing the neuronal compositions with patterns of different level activity.