Effects of lesion of the inferior olivary complex in learning of the equilibrium behavior in the young rat during ontogenesis. I. Total lesion of the inferior olive by 3-acetylpyridine.

Young DA/HAN strain rats were submitted to an equilibrium test consisting in maintaining equilibrium upon a rotorod rotating at 10 or 20 rpm. They were either intact or lesioned, the lesion consisting in destruction of the inferior olivary complex (IOC) by 50-95 mg/kg i.p. administration of 3-acetylpyridine (3-AP) at day 15, followed, 2 to 4 h later, by i.p. injection of niacinamide (300 mg/kg). All the 3-AP-treated animals included in this study were completely lesioned, the extent of the lesion being estimated by both the response of the rats to harmaline and histological controls at the end of the experiments. The IOC lesioned rats were either naive (tested at one given day) or trained every day (10 trials per day); among the latters, some were trained before and after the lesion, the others being trained either before or only after. Control rats were submitted to the same training schedule. Both quantitative (time during which the animals maintained the equilibrium upon the rotating rod) and behavioral data (strategy used by the animals to maintain equilibrium) were obtained. The results demonstrate that, compared to those of controls rats, the quantitative and behavioral scores of the IOC lesioned animals were altered. Comparison of naive and trained animals shows that the impairment of the equilibrium behavior is not only due to the ataxia provoked by the IOC lesion but is also due to cognitive deficits. However, prelesion training facilitates the acquisition of a more efficient postlesion equilibrium behavior. From these results, it can be concluded that the olivo-cerebellar pathway is involved in the adaptation of motor behavior to the environmental conditions.