Effect of varying the intensity and train frequency of forelimb and cerebellar mossy fiber conditioned stimuli on the latency of conditioned eye-blink responses in decerebrate ferrets.

To study the role of the mossy fiber afferents to the cerebellum in classical eye-blink conditioning, in particular the timing of the conditioned responses, we compared the effects of varying a peripheral conditioned stimulus with the effects of corresponding variations of direct stimulation of the mossy fibers. In one set of experiments, decerebrate ferrets were trained in a Pavlovian eye-blink conditioning paradigm with electrical forelimb train stimulation as conditioned stimulus and electrical periorbital stimulation as the unconditioned stimulus. When stable conditioning had been achieved, the effect of increasing the intensity or frequency of the forelimb stimulation was tested. By increasing the intensity from 1 to 2 mA, or the train frequency from 50 to 100 Hz, an immediate decrease was induced in both the onset latency and the latency to peak of the conditioned response. If the conditioned stimulus intensity/frequency was maintained at the higher level, the response latencies gradually returned to preshift values. In a second set of experiments, the forelimb stimulation was replaced by direct train stimulation of the middle cerebellar peduncle as conditioned stimulus. Varying the frequency of the stimulus train between 50 and 100 Hz had effects that were almost identical to those obtained when using a forelimb conditioned stimulus. The functional meaning of the latency effect is discussed. It is also suggested that the results support the view that the conditioned stimulus is transmitted through the mossy fibers and that the mechanism for timing the conditioned response is situated in the cerebellum.