Effect of stimulation of prefrontal cortex and amygdala on diencephalic neurons.

Extracellular unit recordings were obtained from the nucleus medialis dorsalis (MD) and adjacent thalamic nuclei and from the hypothalamus of anesthetized cats. Electrical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex produces suppression of unit activity and rebound excitation in MD. In addition antidromic and short latency excitation was found which was followed by prolonged suppression of firing. This suppression was also followed by a strong postinihibitory activation of unit firing which was, in some cases, again followed by a second phase of inhibition. Amygdala stimulation produced similar results except that antidromic responses were found only in the intralaminar nuclei, and short-latency transynaptic excitation occurred somewhat later. The results are in consonance with the hypothesis that the same interneuronal mechanism is engaged by both afferent sources to MD. In the hypothalamus, fewer units responded to cortical and amygdalar stimulation and alternating sequences of excitation-inhibition-excitation were not found.