New Mechanism That Accounts for Position Sensitivity of Saccades Evoked in Response to Stimulation of Superior Colliculus

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 3373-3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Moschovakis ◽  
Y. Dalezios ◽  
J. Petit ◽  
A. A. Grantyn

Moschovakis, A. K., Y. Dalezios, J. Petit, and A. A. Grantyn. New mechanism that accounts for position sensitivity of saccades evoked in response to stimulation of superior colliculus. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 3373–3379, 1998. Electrical stimulation of the feline superior colliculus (SC) is known to evoke saccades whose size depends on the site stimulated (the “characteristic vector” of evoked saccades) and the initial position of the eyes. Similar stimuli were recently shown to produce slow drifts that are presumably caused by relatively direct projections of the SC onto extraocular motoneurons. Both slow and fast evoked eye movements are similarly affected by the initial position of the eyes, despite their dissimilar metrics, kinematics, and anatomic substrates. We tested the hypothesis that the position sensitivity of evoked saccades is due to the superposition of largely position-invariant saccades and position-dependent slow drifts. We show that such a mechanism can account for the fact that the position sensitivity of evoked saccades increases together with the size of their characteristic vector. Consistent with it, the position sensitivity of saccades drops considerably when the contribution of slow drifts is minimal as, for example, when there is no overlap between evoked saccades and short-duration trains of high-frequency stimuli.

1990 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
James T. McIlwain

AbstractSaccades evoked electrically from the deep layers of the superior colliculus have been examined in the alert cat with its head fixed. Amplitudes of the vertical and horizontal components varied linearly with the starting position of the eye. The slopes of the linear-regression lines provided an estimate of the sensitivity of these components to initial eye position. In observations on 29 sites in nine cats, the vertical and horizontal components of saccades evoked from a given site were rarely influenced to the same degree by initial eye position. For most sites, the horizontal component was more sensitive than the vertical component. Sensitivities of vertical and horizontal components were lowest near the representations of the horizontal and vertical meridians, respectively, of the collicular retinotopic map, but otherwise exhibited no systematic retinotopic dependence. Estimates of component amplitudes for saccades evoked from the center of the oculomotor range also diverged significantly from those predicted from the retinotopic map. The results of this and previous studies indicate that electrical stimulation of the cat's superior colliculus cannot yield a unique oculomotor map or one that is in register everywhere with the sensory retinotopic map. Several features of these observations suggest that electrical stimulation of the colliculus produces faulty activation of a saccadic control system that computes target position with respect to the head and that small and large saccades are controlled differently.


1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 1193-1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas P. Munoz ◽  
Peter J. Istvan

Munoz, Douglas P. and Peter J. Istvan. Lateral inhibitory interactions in the intermediate layers of the monkey superior colliculus. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 1193–1209, 1998. The intermediate layers of the monkey superior colliculus (SC) contain neurons the discharges of which are modulated by visual fixation and saccadic eye movements. Fixation neurons, located in the rostral pole of the SC, discharge action potentials tonically during visual fixation and pause for most saccades. Saccade neurons, located throughout the remainder of the intermediate layers of the SC, discharge action potentials for saccades to a restricted region of the visual field. We defined the fixation zone as that region of the rostral SC containing fixation neurons and the saccade zone as the remainder of the SC. It recently has been hypothesized that a network of local inhibitory interneurons may help shape the reciprocal discharge pattern of fixation and saccade neurons. To test this hypothesis, we combined extracellular recording and microstimulation techniques in awake monkeys trained to perform oculomotor paradigms that enabled us to classify collicular fixation and saccade neurons. Microstimulation was used to electrically activate the fixation and saccade zones of the ipsilateral and contralateral SC to test for inhibitory and excitatory inputs onto fixation and saccade neurons. Saccade neurons were inhibited at short latencies following electrical stimulation of either the ipsilateral (1–5 ms) or contralateral (2–7 ms) fixation or saccade zones. Fixation neurons were inhibited 1–4 ms after electrical stimulation of the ipsilateral saccade zone. Stimulation of the contralateral saccade zone led to much weaker inhibition of fixation neurons. Stimulation of the contralateral fixation zone led to short-latency (1–2 ms) excitation of fixation neurons. Only a small percentage of saccade and fixation neurons were activated by the electrical stimulation (latency: 0.5–2.0 ms). These responses were confirmed as either orthodromic or antidromic responses using collision testing. The results suggest that a local network of inhibitory interneurons may help shape not only the reciprocal discharge pattern of fixation and saccade neurons but also permit lateral interactions between all regions of the ipsilateral and contralateral SC. These interactions therefore may be critical for maintaining stable visual fixation, suppressing unwanted saccades, and initiating saccadic eye movements to targets of interest.


2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 1281-1292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suraj Upadhyaya ◽  
Hui Meng ◽  
Vallabh E. Das

Disruption of binocular vision during the critical period for development leads to eye misalignment in humans and in monkey models. We have previously suggested that disruption within a vergence circuit could be the neural basis for strabismus. Electrical stimulation in the rostral superior colliculus (rSC) leads to vergence eye movements in normal monkeys. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of SC stimulation on eye misalignment in strabismic monkeys. Electrical stimulation was delivered to 51 sites in the intermediate and deep layers of the SC (400 Hz, 0.5-s duration, 10–40 μA) in 3 adult optical prism-reared strabismic monkeys. Scleral search coils were used to measure movements of both eyes during a fixation task. Staircase saccades with horizontal and vertical components were elicited by stimulation as predicted from the SC topographic map. Electrical stimulation also resulted in significant changes in horizontal strabismus angle, i.e., a shift toward exotropia/esotropia depending on stimulation site. Electrically evoked saccade vector amplitude in the two eyes was not significantly different ( P > 0.05; paired t-test) but saccade direction differed. However, saccade disconjugacy accounted for only ~50% of the change in horizontal misalignment while disconjugate postsaccadic movements accounted for the other ~50% of the change in misalignment due to electrical stimulation. In summary, our data suggest that electrical stimulation of the SC of strabismic monkeys produces a change in horizontal eye alignment that is due to a combination of disconjugate saccadic eye movements and disconjugate postsaccadic movements. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Electrical stimulation of the superior colliculus in strabismic monkeys results in a change in eye misalignment. These data support the notion of developmental disruption of vergence circuits leading to maintenance of eye misalignment in strabismus.


1996 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Missal ◽  
P. Lef�vre ◽  
A. Delinte ◽  
M. Crommelinck ◽  
A. Roucoux

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 639
Author(s):  
David Bergeron ◽  
Sami Obaid ◽  
Marie-Pierre Fournier-Gosselin ◽  
Alain Bouthillier ◽  
Dang Khoa Nguyen

Introduction: To date, clinical trials of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for refractory chronic pain have yielded unsatisfying results. Recent evidence suggests that the posterior insula may represent a promising DBS target for this indication. Methods: We present a narrative review highlighting the theoretical basis of posterior insula DBS in patients with chronic pain. Results: Neuroanatomical studies identified the posterior insula as an important cortical relay center for pain and interoception. Intracranial neuronal recordings showed that the earliest response to painful laser stimulation occurs in the posterior insula. The posterior insula is one of the only regions in the brain whose low-frequency electrical stimulation can elicit painful sensations. Most chronic pain syndromes, such as fibromyalgia, had abnormal functional connectivity of the posterior insula on functional imaging. Finally, preliminary results indicated that high-frequency electrical stimulation of the posterior insula can acutely increase pain thresholds. Conclusion: In light of the converging evidence from neuroanatomical, brain lesion, neuroimaging, and intracranial recording and stimulation as well as non-invasive stimulation studies, it appears that the insula is a critical hub for central integration and processing of painful stimuli, whose high-frequency electrical stimulation has the potential to relieve patients from the sensory and affective burden of chronic pain.


2018 ◽  
Vol 204 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 835-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Hitier ◽  
Go Sato ◽  
Yan-Feng Zhang ◽  
Yiwen Zheng ◽  
Stephane Besnard ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 2541-2549 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Economides ◽  
Daniel L. Adams ◽  
Jonathan C. Horton

The superior colliculus is a major brain stem structure for the production of saccadic eye movements. Electrical stimulation at any given point in the motor map generates saccades of defined amplitude and direction. It is unknown how this saccade map is affected by strabismus. Three macaques were raised with exotropia, an outwards ocular deviation, by detaching the medial rectus tendon in each eye at age 1 mo. The animals were able to make saccades to targets with either eye and appeared to alternate fixation freely. To probe the organization of the superior colliculus, microstimulation was applied at multiple sites, with the animals either free-viewing or fixating a target. On average, microstimulation drove nearly conjugate saccades, similar in both amplitude and direction but separated by the ocular deviation. Two monkeys showed a pattern deviation, characterized by a systematic change in the relative position of the two eyes with certain changes in gaze angle. These animals' saccades were slightly different for the right eye and left eye in their amplitude or direction. The differences were consistent with the animals' underlying pattern deviation, measured during static fixation and smooth pursuit. The tectal map for saccade generation appears to be normal in strabismus, but saccades may be affected by changes in the strabismic deviation that occur with different gaze angles.


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