Data from: Whole-cell properties of cerebellar nuclei neurons in vivo

Cerebellar nuclei neurons integrate sensorimotor information and form the final output of the cerebellum, projecting to premotor brainstem targets. This implies that, in contrast to specialized neurons and interneurons in cortical regions, neurons within the nuclei encode and integrate complex information that is most likely reflected in a large variation of intrinsic membrane properties and integrative capacities of individual neurons. Yet, whether this large variation in properties is reflected in a heterogeneous physiological cell population of cerebellar nuclei neurons with well or poorly defined cell types remains to be determined. Indeed, the cell electrophysiological properties of cerebellar nuclei neurons have been identified in vitro in young rodents, but whether these properties are similar to the in vivo adult situation has not been shown. In this comprehensive study we present and compare the in vivo properties of 144 cerebellar nuclei neurons in adult ketamine-xylazine anesthetized mice. We found regularly firing (N=88) and spontaneously bursting (N=56) neurons. Membrane-resistance, capacitance, spike half-width and firing frequency all widely varied as a continuum, ranging from 9.63 to 3352.1 MΩ, from 6.7 to 772.57 pF, from 0.178 to 1.98 ms, and from 0 to 176.6 Hz, respectively. At the same time, several of these parameters were correlated with each other. Capacitance decreased with membrane resistance (R2=0.12, P