Neuronal deactivation explains decreased cerebellar blood flow in response to focal cerebral ischemia or suppressed neocortical function

摘要

Functional neuroimaging in humans with acute brain damage often reveals decreases in blood flow and metabolism in areas unaffected by the lesion. This phenomenon, termed diaschisis, is presumably caused by disruption of afferent excitatory input from the lesioned area to other brain regions. By characterizing its neurophysiological basis, we used cerebellar diaschisis to study the relationship between electrical activity and blood flow during decreased neuronal activity. Here we show that focal cerebral ischemia in rats causes diaschisis in the cerebellar cortex charac- terized by pronounced decreases in Purkinje cell spiking activity and small decreases in cerebellar blood flow.