Correlated activity of sensorimotor cortex neurons in the left and right hemispheres of the rabbit brain in immobilization catatonia.

Spike sequences extracted from multineuron activity from neurons in the sensorimotor cortex, and recorded simultaneously in the left and right hemispheres of the brains of rabbits in the state of immobilization catatonia ("animal hypnosis") and on recovery of animals from this state were analyzed. Cross-correlation analysis of spike flows revealed a temporal relationship between the appearance of neuron spikes in the left and right hemispheres; these were regarded as the mutual influences of these neurons on each other. The intensity of the influences of left hemisphere neurons on cells in the right brain was shown to change significantly in relation to baseline measures at all stages of the experiment and at all of the time points studied. The intensity of the influences of neurons in the right hemisphere on cells in the left hemisphere changed significantly only after animals recovered from the state of immobilization and over much more restricted time periods.