No clock signal in the discharge of neurons in the deep cerebellar nuclei

We examined the spike activity of deep cerebellar nuclear cells recorded from awake, behaving monkeys to determine if there was a tendency for periodic discharge at or near 10 Hz. Data were obtained from four Rhesus monkeys trained to perform either targeted flexions and extensions of the wrist in relation to a visual cue (2 monkeys) or instrumented digit movements and natural reaches (2 monkeys). We determined the interspike intervals of 274 isolated cells. We looked for periodicity by autocorrelating the interval data and Fourier transforming the resulting autocorrelation function. The autocorrelograms and the Fourier transforms failed to reveal periodicity at or near 10 Hz for any cell. This lack of oscillatory discharge in deep nuclear cells of the cerebellum is consistent with our previously reported results that the complex spike of the Purkinje cell is aperiodic. Our failure to observe a clocklike timing signal in awake, behaving animals in either the Purkinje cell complex spike or the deep nuclear cell discharge argues against a popular idea that the inferior olive may act through thee cerebellum as a motor clock.