Discovery
The discovery of PGO waves goes back to 1959, when three French scientists released their scientific article of their study of these waves in animal test subjects. Although at this time, they did not have a specific name for this neurological phenomenon.
It was not until the published work of two American scientists that these waves became known as PGO waves. Their research focused on the propagation of these waves in cats, noticing that these field potentials started in the pons, propagating down to the lateral geniculate nucleus and the occipital lobe.
Other studies with these waves have been done on rats as well. Scientists tried to discern whether the rats had PGO waves, but learned that they are present only in the pons, and wave propagation does not excite any neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus. As a result of this study, PGO waves are known as P waves in rodents.
PGO waves have been studied mostly through cat and rodent animal models. Despite the focus of the research, PGO waves have been found to exist in other mammalian species including humans and nonhuman primates, such as the macaque and baboon.
Read more about this topic: PGO Waves
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