Occipital activations and deactivations induced by stimulation of the right human frontal eye field

1. This study identified neurons in the rhesus monkey's frontal eye field that projected to oculomotor regions of the pons and characterized the signals sent by these neurons from frontal eye field to pons. 2. In two behaving rhesus monkeys, frontal eye field neurons projecting to the pons were identified via antidromic excitation by a stimulating microelectrode whose tip was centered in or near the omnipause region of the pontine raphe. This stimulation site corresponded to the nucleus raphe interpositus (RIP). In addition, electrical stimulation of the frontal eye field was used to demonstrate the effects of frontal eye field input on neurons in the omnipause region and surrounding paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF). 3. Twenty-five corticopontine neurons were identified and characterized. Most frontal eye field neurons projecting to the pons were either movement neurons, firing in association with saccadic eye movements (48%), or foveal neurons responsive to visual stimulation of the fovea combined with activity related to fixation (28%). Corticopontine movement neurons fired before, during, and after saccades made within a restricted movement field. 4. The activity of identified corticopontine neurons was very similar to the activity of neurons antidromically excited from the superior colliculus where 59% had movement related activity, and 22% had foveal and fixation related activity. 5. High-intensity, short-duration electrical stimulation of the frontal eye field caused omnipause neurons to stop firing. The cessation in firing appeared to be immediate, within < or = 5 ms. The time that the omnipause neuron remained quiet depended on the intensity of the cortical stimulus and lasted up to 30 ms after a train of three stimulus pulses lasting a total of 6 ms at an intensity of 1,000 microA. Low-intensity, longer duration electrical stimuli (24 pulses, 75 microA, 70 ms) traditionally used to evoke saccades from the frontal eye field were also followed by a cessation in omnipause neuron firing, but only after a delay of approximately 30 ms. For these stimuli, the omnipause neuron resumed firing when the stimulus was turned off. 6. The same stimuli that caused omnipause neurons to stop firing excited burst neurons in the PPRF. The latency to excitation ranged from 4.2 to 9.8 ms, suggesting that there is at least one additional neuron between frontal eye field neurons and burst neurons in the PPRF. 7. The present study confirms and extends the results of previous work, with the use of retrograde and anterograde tracers, demonstrating direct projections from the frontal eye field to the pons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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Electrical Stimulation of the Frontal Eye Field in a Monkey Produces Combined Eye and Head Movements

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.2000.84.2.1103 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 84 (2) ◽

pp. 1103-1106 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Tyson A. Tu ◽

E. Gregory Keating

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Eye Movements ◽

Head Movements ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Gaze Shifts ◽

Gaze Shift ◽

Eye Field ◽

A Site ◽

Head Rotations ◽

Stimulation Of

The frontal eye field (FEF), an area in the primate frontal lobe, has long been considered important for the production of eye movements. Past studies have evoked saccade-like movements from the FEF using electrical stimulation in animals that were not allowed to move their heads. Using electrical stimulation in two monkeys that were free to move their heads, we have found that the FEF produces gaze shifts that are composed of both eye and head movements. Repeated stimulation at a site evoked gaze shifts of roughly constant amplitude. However, that gaze shift could be accomplished with varied amounts of head and eye movements, depending on their (head and eye) respective starting positions. This evidence suggests that the FEF controls visually orienting movements using both eye and head rotations rather than just shifting the eyes as previously thought.

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Gaze Palsy as a Manifestation of Todd’s Phenomenon: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10050298 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 298

Author(s):

Karmele Olaciregui Dague ◽

Manuel Dafotakis ◽

Jörg B. Schulz ◽

Rainer Surges

Keyword(s):

Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ◽

Clonic Seizure ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Correct Identification ◽

Eye Field ◽

Narrative Literature Review ◽

Stroke Mimic ◽

Therapeutic Decision Making ◽

The Right ◽

Gaze Palsy

Background: Though Todd’s phenomenon (TP) is a relatively rare occurrence, its correct identification is of key diagnostic and therapeutic importance as a stroke mimic. Here we describe a case of isolated gaze palsy as a manifestation of TP, discuss periictal gaze abnormalities as lateralizing sign involving the frontal eye field (FEF), and present a narrative literature review. Methods: We reviewed the main features of the case and conducted a structured literature search of TP and gaze palsy using PubMed. We restricted the search to publications in English, Spanish, French, and German. Case presentation: A 71-year-old male with a history of right frontotemporal subarachnoid hemorrhage was admitted to the Emergency Department of our institution after suffering a first unprovoked focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizure with ictal gaze deviation to the left. Cranial imaging showed no signs of ischemia, intracerebral hemorrhage, or tumor. The patient presented the following postictal features: involuntary eye deviation to the right due to left-sided gaze palsy and disorientation in time with preserved responsiveness. Eye movements were normal three days later. We concluded that the patient suffered from new-onset epilepsy due to sequelae following the right frontotemporal subarachnoid hemorrhage, affecting the FEF with contralateral ictal gaze deviation, and postictal gaze palsy with ipsilateral eye deviation as an unusual Todd’s phenomenon. Conclusion: Unusual manifestations of TP are uncommon but clinically highly relevant, as they can mimic stroke or epileptic status and are decisive in the diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making process. Though postictal gaze palsy has been reported associated with other deficits, this constitutes, to our knowledge, the first report of isolated gaze palsy as a form of TP. Further research into the underlying causes is needed. Ictal contralateral gaze and head deviation, and probably postictal ipsilateral gaze deviation if present, are very helpful for the lateralization of the seizure-onset zone.

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Time course of blood oxygenation level–dependent signal response after theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation of the frontal eye field

Neuroscience ◽

10.1016/j.neuroscience.2007.10.049 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 151 (3) ◽

pp. 921-928 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

D. Hubl ◽

T. Nyffeler ◽

P. Wurtz ◽

S. Chaves ◽

T. Pflugshaupt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Time Course ◽

Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent ◽

Blood Oxygenation ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Blood Oxygenation Level ◽

Oxygenation Level ◽

Dependent Signal ◽

Eye Field ◽

Theta Burst ◽

Stimulation Of

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Optogenetic stimulation of the frontal eye field in an awake, behaving monkey.

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/13.9.228 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 228-228

Author(s):

R. A. Gulli ◽

S. Tremblay ◽

A. R. Adamantidis ◽

J. C. Martinez-Trujillo

Keyword(s):

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Optogenetic Stimulation ◽

Eye Field ◽

Stimulation Of

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Right frontal eye field has perceptual and oculomotor functions during optokinetic stimulation and nystagmus

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00468.2019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 123 (2) ◽

pp. 571-586 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Angela Mastropasqua ◽

James Dowsett ◽

Marianne Dieterich ◽

Paul C. J. Taylor

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Visual Motion ◽

Optokinetic Nystagmus ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Optokinetic Stimulation ◽

Motion Discrimination ◽

Eye Field ◽

The Right

The right frontal eye field (rFEF) is associated with visual perception and eye movements. rFEF is activated during optokinetic nystagmus (OKN), a reflex that moves the eye in response to visual motion (optokinetic stimulation, OKS). It remains unclear whether rFEF plays causal perceptual and/or oculomotor roles during OKS and OKN. To test this, participants viewed a leftward-moving visual scene of vertical bars and judged whether a flashed dot was moving. Single pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were applied to rFEF on half of trials. In half of blocks, to explore oculomotor control, participants performed an OKN in response to the OKS. rFEF TMS, during OKN, made participants more accurate on trials when the dot was still, and it slowed eye movements. In separate blocks, participants fixated during OKS. This not only controlled for eye movements but also allowed the use of EEG to explore the FEF’s role in visual motion discrimination. In these blocks, by contrast, leftward dot motion discrimination was impaired, associated with a disruption of the frontal-posterior balance in alpha-band oscillations. None of these effects occurred in a control site (M1) experiment. These results demonstrate multiple related yet dissociable causal roles of the right FEF during optokinetic stimulation. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study demonstrates causal roles of the right frontal eye field (FEF) in motion discrimination and eye movement control during visual scene motion: previous work had only examined other stimuli and eye movements such as saccades. Using combined transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG and a novel optokinetic stimulation motion-discrimination task, we find evidence for multiple related yet dissociable causal roles within the FEF: perceptual processing during optokinetic stimulation, generation of the optokinetic nystagmus, and the maintenance of alpha oscillations.

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Suppression of Visually and Memory-Guided Saccades Induced by Electrical Stimulation of the Monkey Frontal Eye Field. II. Suppression of Bilateral Saccades

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00085.2004 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 92 (4) ◽

pp. 2261-2273 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Yoshiko Izawa ◽

Hisao Suzuki ◽

Yoshikazu Shinoda

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Superior Colliculus ◽

Reticular Formation ◽

Neural Mechanism ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Pontine Reticular Formation ◽

Visually Guided ◽

Saccade Onset ◽

Eye Field ◽

Stimulation Of

To understand the neural mechanism of fixation, we investigated effects of electrical stimulation of the frontal eye field (FEF) and its vicinity on visually guided (Vsacs) and memory-guided saccades (Msacs) in trained monkeys and found that there were two types of suppression induced by the electrical stimulation: suppression of ipsilateral saccades and suppression of bilateral saccades. In this report, we characterized the properties of the suppression of bilateral Vsacs and Msacs. Stimulation of the bilateral suppression sites suppressed the initiation of both Vsacs and Msacs in all directions during and ∼50 ms after stimulation but did not affect the vector of these saccades. The suppression was stronger for ipsiversive larger saccades and contraversive smaller saccades, and saccades with initial eye positions shifted more in the saccadic direction. The most effective stimulation timing for the suppression of ipsilateral and contralateral Vsacs was ∼40–50 ms before saccade onset, indicating that the suppression occurred most likely in the superior colliculus and/or the paramedian pontine reticular formation. Suppression sites of bilateral saccades were located in the prearcuate gyrus facing the inferior arcuate sulcus where stimulation induced suppression at ≤40 μA but usually did not evoke any saccades at 80 μA and were different from those of ipsilateral saccades where stimulation evoked saccades at ≤50 μA. The bilateral suppression sites contained fixation neurons. The results suggest that fixation neurons in the bilateral suppression area of the FEF may play roles in maintaining fixation by suppressing saccades in all directions.

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Frontal Eye Field Neurons Orthodromically Activated From the Superior Colliculus

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1998.80.6.3331 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 80 (6) ◽

pp. 3331-3335 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

Marc A. Sommer ◽

Robert H. Wurtz

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Superior Colliculus ◽

Direct Evidence ◽

Visual Stimulation ◽

Saccadic Eye Movements ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Anatomical Studies ◽

Eye Field ◽

To Receive ◽

Stimulation Of

Sommer, Marc A. and Robert H. Wurtz. Frontal eye field neurons orthodromically activated from the superior colliculus. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 3331–3333, 1998. Anatomical studies have shown that the frontal eye field (FEF) and superior colliculus (SC) of monkeys are reciprocally connected, and a physiological study described the signals sent from the FEF to the SC. Nothing is known, however, about the signals sent from the SC to the FEF. We physiologically identified and characterized FEF neurons that are likely to receive input from the SC. Fifty-two FEF neurons were found that were orthodromically activated by electrical stimulation of the intermediate or deeper layers of the SC. All the neurons that we tested ( n = 34) discharged in response to visual stimulation. One-half also discharged when saccadic eye movements were made. This provides the first direct evidence that the ascending pathway from SC to FEF might carry visual- and saccade-related signals. Our findings support a hypothesis that the SC and the FEF interact bidirectionally during the events leading up to saccade generation.

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