Abstract
A point process analysis was performed on extracellular trains of spontaneous activity, which were recorded from anterior semicircular canal units in Scarpa's ganglion in the anesthetized pigeon. For stationary units, the mean interspike interval (ISI) varied from 4.00 to 51.22 ms, and the coefficient of variation ranged from 0.05 to 0.88. Selected tests indicated that 63.6% of units had the properties of a renewal process. The ISI histograms of these “renewal”-type units were fitted with several probability density functions (pdfs) including the gamma, exponential, exponential-with-delay and the pdf for the first passage times (fpts) in a Wiener-Lévy (WL) process. The WL process provided a good fit to “irregular” discharge patterns. Furthermore, a neurophysiological basis for this process exists within the vestibular neuroepithelium. It is conjectured that a generalization of this process would also describe “regular” discharge patterns which have been observed in the spontaneous activity of vestibular primary afferents.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bartlett, M. S.: Problémes de l'analyse spectral des series temporelles stationnaires. Publ. Inst. Statist., Univ. de Paris Fasc 3, 119–134 (1954)
Brassard, J. R., Correia, M. J., Landolt, J. P.: A computer program for the graphical and iterative fitting of probability density functions to biological data. Comp. Prog. Biomed. 5, 11–38 (1975)
Calvin, W. H., Stevens, C. F.: Synaptic noise and other sources of randomness in motoneuron interspike intervals. J. Neurophysiol. 31, 574–587 (1968)
Correia, M. J., Landolt, J. P.: Spontaneous and driven responses from primary neurons of the anterior semicircular canal of the pigeon. Fortschr. Hals.-Nas.-Ohrenheilk. 19, 134–148 (1973)
Correia, M. J., Landolt, J. P., Cardin, R. P. S., Anderson, P. J., Lee, M. A.: Techniques for prolonged single unit recording and data analysis of discharges from primary neurons in the pigeon's vestibular ganglion, Report 927. Downsview, Ontario: Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine 1973
Cox, D. R., Lewis, P. A. W.: The statistical analysis of series of events. London: Methuen 1966
Cox, D. R., Miller, H. D.: The theory of stochastic processes. London: Methuen 1965
Detwiler, P. B., Fuortes, M. G. F.: Responses of hair cells in the statocyst of Hermissenda. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 251, 107–129 (1975)
Engström, H., Bergström, B., Ades, H. W.: Macula utriculi and macula sacculi in the squirrel monkey. In: Inner ear studies. Ades, H. W., Engström, H., eds. Acta oto-laryng. Suppl. 301, 75–126 (1972)
Feller, W.: On the Kolmogorov-Smirnov limit theorems for empirical distributions. Ann. Math. Stat. 19, 177–189 (1948)
Fienberg, S. E.: Stochastic models for single neuron firing trains: a survey. Biometrics 30, 399–427 (1974)
Flock, Å.: Sensory transduction in hair cells. In: Handbook of sensory physiology, Vol. I, pp. 396–441. Lowenstein, W. R., ed. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer 1971
Flock, Å., Russell, I. J.: The post-synaptic action of efferent fibres in the lateral line organ of the burbot Lota lota. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 235, 591–605 (1973a)
Flock, Å., Russell, I.: Efferent nerve fibres: Postsynaptic action on hair cells. Nature 243, 89–91 (1973b)
Flock, Å., Russell, I.: Inhibition by efferent nerve fibres: action on hair cells and afferent synaptic transmission in the lateral line canal of the burbot Lota lota. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 257, 45–62 (1976)
Friedmann, I., Bird, E. S.: Electron microscopic studies of the isolated fowl embryo otocyst in tissue culture. Rudimentary kinocilia, cupshaped nerve endings and synaptic bars. J. Ultrastruct. Res. 20, 356–365 (1967)
Furukawa, T., Ishii, Y.: Neurophysiological studies on hearing in goldfish. J. Neurophysiol. 30, 1377–1403 (1967)
Furukawa, T., Ishii, Y., Matsuura, S.: Synaptic delay and time course of postsynaptic potentials at the junction between hair cells and eighth nerve fibers in the goldfish. Japan J. Physiol. 22, 617–635 (1972)
Goldberg, J. M., Fernandez, C.: Physiology of peripheral neurons innervating semicircular canals of the squirrel monkey. III. Variations among units in their discharge properties. J. Neurophysiol. 34, 676–684 (1971)
Hashimoto, T., Katsuki, Y., Yanagisawa, K.: Efferent system of lateral line organ of fish. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 33, 405–421 (1970)
Himmelblau, D. M.: Process analysis by statistical methods. New York: Wiley (1970)
Ishii, Y., Matsuura, S., Furukawa, T.: Quantal nature of transmission at the synapse between hair cells and eighth nerve fibers. Japan J. Physiol. 21, 79–89 (1971)
Iurato, S., Taidelli, G.: Relationships and structures of the so-called “much granulated nerve endings” in the crista ampullaris (as studied by means of serial sections). In: Proceedings of third european regional conference of electron microscopy, pp. 325–326. Titlbach, M., ed. Prague: Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences 1964
Jenkins, G. M., Watts, D. G.: Spectral analysis and its application. San Francisco: Holden-Day 1968
Jørgensen, J. M., Andersen, T.: On the structure of the avian maculae. Acta Zool. 54, 121–131 (1973)
Junge, D., Moore, G. P.: Interspike-interval fluctuations in aplysia pacemaker neurons. Biophys. J. 6, 411–434 (1966)
Klinke, R., Galley, N.: Efferent innervation of vestibular and auditory receptors. Physiol. Rev. 54, 316–357 (1974)
Kiang, N. Y.-S., Watanabe, T., Thomas, E. C., Clark, L. F.: Discharge patterns of single fibers in the cat's auditory nerve. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press 1965
Landolt, J. P., Correia, M. J.: Neuromathematical concepts of point process theory. IEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. In press (1977)
Lewis, P. A. W.: Distribution of the Anderson-Darling statistic. Ann. Math. Stat. 32, 1118–1123 (1961)
Lewis, P. A. W.: Some results on tests for Poisson processes. Biometrika 52, 67–77 (1965)
Jewis, P. A. W.: Recent results in the statistical analysis of univariate point processes. In: Stochastic point processes: statistical analysis, theory, and applications, pp. 1–54. Lewis, P. A. W., ed. New York: Wiley Interscience 1972
Lewis, P. A. W., Goodman, A. S.: The null distribution of the first three product-moment statistics for exponential, half-gamma and normal scores, Report RC 2255. Yorktown Heights NY: IBM T. J. Watson Research Center 1968
Lewis, P. A. W., Katcher, A. M., Weis, A. H.: SASE IV—An improved program for the statistical analysis of series of events, Report RC 2365. Yorktown Heights NY: IBM T. J. Watson Research Center 1969
Lifschitz, W. S.: Responses from first order neurons of the horizontal semicircular canal in the pigeon. Brain Res. 63, 43–57 (1973)
Lowenstein, O.: Peripheral mechanisms of equilibrium. Brit. Med. Bull. 12, 114–118 (1956)
Pearson, E. S., Hartley, H. O.: Biometrika tables for statisticians, Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1970
Perkel, D. H., Gerstein, G. L., Moore, G. P.: Neuronal spike trains and stochastic point processes. 1. The single spike train. Biophys. J. 7, 391–418 (1967)
Segundo, J. P., Perkel, D. H., Wyman, H., Hegstad, H., Moore, G. P.: Input-output relations in computer-simulated nerve cells. Influence of the statistical properties, strength, number and interdependence of excitatory pre-synaptic terminals. Kybernetik 4, 157–171 (1968)
Shiavi, R., Negin, M.: The effect of measurement errors on correlation estimates in spike-interval sequences. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. BME 20, 374–378 (1973)
Smith, C. A., Rasmussen, G. L.: Nerve endings in the maculae and cristae of the chinchilla vestibule, with a special reference to the efferents. In: Third symposium on the role of the vestibular organs in space exploration. SP-152, pp. 183–201. Washington, D. C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1968
Spoendlin, H.: Innervation densities of the cochlea. Acta oto-laryng. 73, 235–248 (1972)
Valli, P., Taglietti, V., Casella, C. E., Rossi, M. L.: Proprietá funzionali delle diverse unitá recettrici nei canali semicircolari isolati di rana. Arch. Fisiol. 70, 94–95 (1973)
Walsh, B. T., Miller, J. B., Gacek, R. R., Kiang, N. Y.-S.: Spontaneous activity in the eighth cranial nerve of the cat. Int. J. Neurosci. 3, 221–236 (1972)
Wersäll, J.: Studies on the structure and innervation of the sensory epithelium of the cristae ampullares in the guinea pig. Acta oto-laryng. Suppl. 126, 1–85 (1956)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
DCIEM Research Paper 76-X-58
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Correia, M.J., Landolt, J.P. A point process analysis of the spontaneous activity of anterior semicircular canal units in the anesthetized pigeon. Biol. Cybernetics 27, 199–213 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344141
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344141