Brain stem and cerebellar lesions in female rats. I. Tests of posture and movement.

Lesions were placed in a number of brain stem and cerebellar structures to determine their importance to the control of posture and movement in rats. Lesions of the lateral vestibular nucleus, superior vestibular nucleus, or inferior olive produced severe disturbances of posture and movement. Rats with such lesions had pronounced tremor, abnormal head posture and asymmetrical trunk posture, and failed in a balance beam test. Lesions of the medial medullary reticular formation and medial vestibular nucleus had less overall effect on posture and movement, while animals with lesions of the deep cerebellar nuclei were relatively unimpaired. All lesion groups showed some recovery of function during the course of postoperative testing.