FICTIVE LOCOMOTION IN THE ADULT THALAMIC RAT

In immobilized adult thalamic rats, electrical stimulation of sites wi thin the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) or the mesencephalic locomoto r region (MLR) were found to elicit fictive locomotor patterns in hind limb muscle nerves. Significant differences were found between several characteristics (average cycle period, locomotor episode duration, in tralimb and interlimb coordination patterns) of the LHA-induced and ML R-induced fictive locomotor activities. These findings support the hyp othesis that LHA and MLR play different functional roles during locomo tion.