Cortico-subcortical synchronization in the chloralose-anesthetized cat.

The spontaneous and paroxysmal cerebral cortical synchronized activity was used as reference to study the cortical impact exerted on subcortical neurons. The sensorimotor cortical synchronized activity spread down to subcortical structures receiving direct cortical input, including neuronal populations that originate descending rubrospinal, tectospinal and reticulospinal motor axons, and to a somatosensory relay station, the cuneate nucleus. Lesion of the pyramidal tract abolished the cortically induced synchronization of the activity of contralateral cuneate nucleus neurons.