Abstract

In the cerebellar vermis, each lobule receives different sensory information. Lobules III-V which are known as spinocerebellum receive major afferent input through ventral spinocerebellar tract, and lobule X which is known as vestibulocerebellum has extensive primary and secondary vestibular afferent. We hypothesized that Purkinje cells in different lobules may have different input-output functions with distinct membrane properties to encode different kinds of sensory modality. This study showed that intrinsic membrane properties vary widely between Purkinje cells in lobule III-V and X. Purkinje cells in lobule X exhibited more diverse firing patterns, and had wide dynamic range in their input-output curve not saturating their firing rates as readily as lobule III-V neurons. These findings are the first report, as far as we know, about the inter-lobular difference of intrinsic properties of Purkinje cells from the systematic comparison.