Adaptation of the phase of the human linear vestibulo-ocular reflex (LVOR) and effects on the oculomotor neural integrator

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 239-247
Author(s):  
Stefan Hegemann ◽  
Mark Shelhamer ◽  
Phillip D. Kramer ◽  
David S. Zee

The phase of the translational linear VOR (LVOR) can be adaptively modified by exposure to a visual-vestibular mismatch. We extend here our earlier work on LVOR phase adaptation, and discuss the role of the oculomotor neural integrator. Ten subjects were oscillated laterally at 0.5 Hz, 0.3 g peak acceleration, while sitting upright on a linear sled. LVOR was assessed before and after adaptation with subjects tracking the remembered location of a target at 1 m in the dark. Phase and gain were measured by fitting sine waves to the desaccaded eye movements, and comparing sled and eye position. To adapt LVOR phase, the subject viewed a computer-generated stereoscopic visual display, at a virtual distance of 1 m, that moved so as to require either a phase lead or a phase lag of 53 deg. Adaptation lasted 20 min, during which subjects were oscillated at 0.5 Hz/0.3 g. Four of five subjects produced an adaptive change in the lag condition (range 4–45 deg), and each of five produced a change in the lead condition (range 19–56 deg), as requested. Changes in drift on eccentric gaze suggest that the oculomotor velocity-to-position integrator may be involved in the phase changes.

1999 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-220
Author(s):  
Gilles Clément ◽  
Scott J. Wood ◽  
Millard F. Reschke ◽  
Alain Berthoz ◽  
Makoto Igarashi

Both yaw and pitch visual-vestibular interactions at two separate frequencies of chair rotation (0.2 and 0.8 Hz) in combination with a single velocity of optokinetic stimulus ( 36 ∘ /s) were used to investigate the effects of sustained weightlessness on neural strategies adopted by astronaut subjects to cope with the stimulus rearrangement of spaceflight. Pitch and yaw oscillation in darkness at 0.2 and 0.8 Hz without optokinetic stimulation, and constant velocity linear optokinetic stimulation at 18, 36, and 54 ∘ /s presented relative to the head with the subject stationary, were used as controls for the visual-vestibular interactions. The results following 8 days of space flight showed no significant changes in: (1) either the horizontal and vertical vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain, phase, or bias; (2) the yaw visual-vestibular response (VVR); or (3) the horizontal or vertical optokinetic (OKN) slow phase velocity (SPV). However, significant changes were observed: (1) when during pitch VVR at 0.2 Hz late inflight, the contribution of the optokinetic input to the combined oculomotor response was smaller than during the stationary OKN SPV measurements, followed by an increased contribution during the immediate postflight testing; and (2) when during pitch VVR at 0.8 Hz, the component of the combined oculomotor response due to the underlying vertical VOR was more efficiently suppressed early inflight and less suppressed immediately postflight compared with preflight observations. The larger OKN response during pitch VVR at 0.2 Hz and the better suppression of VOR during pitch VVR at 0.8 Hz postflight are presumably due to the increased role of vision early inflight and immediately after spaceflight, as previously observed in various studies. These results suggest that the subjects adopted a neural strategy to structure their spatial orientation in weightlessness by reweighting visual, otolith, and perhaps tactile/somatic signals.


1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-195
Author(s):  
Caroline Tiliket ◽  
Mark Shelhamer ◽  
H. Stevie Tan ◽  
David S. Zee

We investigated the influence of static head orientation and position, relative to the axis of body rotation, upon vestibular adaptation. With the head centered, displaced anterior to the axis of body rotation, or tilted 40∘ to 45∘ in roll or pitch, the gain of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) was trained (to go either up or down) for one hour using artificial manipulation of the visual surround to produce a visual-vestibular mismatch. Before and after each training session, the VOR was measured in darkness with the head in the training as well as in several non-training positions. We found that transfer of VOR adaptation to non-training positions was almost complete when comparing head eccentric versus head-centered rotations. For tilts, however, transfer of VOR learning was far less complete suggesting that static otolith signals provide a strong contextual cue that gates the expression of an adaptive VOR response. Finally, following training to increase than VOR, gain was greater for centripetally than centrifugally directed slow phases. Centripetally directed postsaccadic drift also developed. These fundings imply that the gain increase paradigm also leads to abnormal function of the velocity-to-position neural integrator, which holds eccentric positions of gaze.


1991 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-239
Author(s):  
G. Cheron

This study was intended to test the adaptive plasticity of the vestibulo-ocular reflex before and after either a midsagittal or parasagittal incision in the brainstem. Eye movements were measured with the electromagnetic search coil technique during the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VORD) in the dark, the optokinetic reflex (OKN), and the visuo-vestibular adaptive training procedure. Two types of visual-vestibular combined stimulation were applied by means of low frequency stimuli (0.05 to 0.10 Hz). In order to increase or decrease the VORD gain, the optokinetic drum was oscillated either 180∘ out-of-phase or in-phase with the vestibular stimulus turntable. This “training” procedure was applied for 4 hours. Initial measurements of the VORD were normal with a mean gain value of 0.92 ± 0.08. After 4 hours of “training” with the out-of-phase condition (180∘), VORD gain reached mean values of 1.33 ± 0.11 (n = 6 cats). In the in-phase combination, the mean VORD gain decreased from 1.0 to 0.63 ± 0.02 (n = 2 cats). No significant change of VORD phase was found in any of the cats. Midsagittal or parasagittal pontomedullary brainstem incisions were performed in 4 cats. Recovery of the VOR was tested on the 2nd, 7th, and 30th day after operation. After the 30th day, recovery of the VORD gain stabilized at about 66% of the initial preoperative value. At this stage of the recovery, the optokinetic response (OKN) of the midsagittal-Iesioned cats was practically normal: in the parasagittal-Jesioned cats, the postoperative OKN responses were asymmetric. After stabilization of recovery, lesioned cats were trained with the same adaptation procedure. Although the direct effect of the visuo-vestibular combined stimulation during the training was still operative in all lesioned cats, the adaptive plasticity was completely abolished by the lesions. These results suggest that the commissural brainstem network may play a crucial role in the acquisition of the forced VOR adaptation.


2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob J. Bloomberg ◽  
Lauren A. Merkle ◽  
Susan R. Barry ◽  
William P. Huebner ◽  
Helen S. Cohen ◽  
...  

The goal of the present study was to determine if adaptive modulation of vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) function is associated with commensurate alterations in manual target localization. To measure the effects of adapted VOR on manual responses we developed the Vestibular-Contingent Pointing Test (VCP). In the VCP test, subjects pointed to a remembered target following passive whole body rotation in the dark. In the first experiment, subjects performed VCP before and after wearing 0.5X minifying lenses that adaptively attenuate horizontal VOR gain. Results showed that adaptive reduction in horizontal VOR gain was accompanied by a commensurate change in VCP performance. In the second experiment, bilaterally labyrinthine deficient (LD) subjects were tested to confirm that vestibular cues were central to the spatial coding of both eye and hand movements during VCP. LD subjects performed significantly worse than normal subjects. These results demonstrate that adaptive change in VOR can lead to alterations in manual target localization.


2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-359
Author(s):  
A. Schmid-Priscoveanu ◽  
A.A. Kori ◽  
D. Straumann

In a recent study we demonstrated that otolith input modifies the torsional angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (torVOR) of healthy human subjects: Compared to turntable oscillations in supine position, oscillations in upright position increased the gain of torVOR by 0.1 and cancelled the phase lead originating from low-frequency semicircular canal signals. We asked whether these otolith-related changes of torVOR are still present in patients after vestibular neuritis (VN). Eight patients were sinusoidally oscillated about their naso-occipital axis in supine (canal-only stimulation) and upright (canal-and-otolith stimulation) position. Three-dimensional eye movements were recorded with dual search coils. The patients showed similar otolith-related gain and phase changes of the torVOR as healthy subjects: the gain increased by about 0.1 (p < 0.05) and the low-frequency phase lead from semicircular canal signals was abolished. These results indicate that otolith function after VN is still sufficient to interact with semicircular canal signals to optimize torsional gaze stabilization when the head is upright.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziyad W Sultan ◽  
Elizabeth R Jaeckel ◽  
Bryan M Krause ◽  
Sean M Grady ◽  
Caitlin A Murphy ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundNovel preventive therapies are needed for postoperative delirium, which especially affects aged patients. A mouse model is presented that captures inflammation-associated cortical slow wave activity (SWA) observed in patients, allowing exploration of the mechanistic role of prostaglandin-adenosine signaling.MethodsEEG and cortical cytokine measurements (interleukin 6 [IL-6], monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 [MCP-1]) were obtained from adult and aged mice. Behavior, SWA, and functional connectivity (alpha-band weighted phase lag index) were assayed before and after systemic administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) +/- piroxicam (cyclooxygenase inhibitor) or caffeine (adenosine receptor antagonist). To avoid confounds from inflammation-driven changes in movement, which alter SWA and connectivity, electrophysiological recordings were classified as occurring during quiescence or movement, and propensity score matching used to match distributions of movement magnitude between baseline and LPS.ResultsLPS produces increases in cortical cytokines and behavioral quiescence. In movement-matched data, LPS produces increases in SWA (likelihood-ratio test: χ2(4)=21.51, p=0.00057), but not connectivity (χ2(4)=6.39, p=0.17). Increases in SWA associate with IL6 (p<0.001) and MCP-1 (p=0.001) and are suppressed by piroxicam (p<0.001) and caffeine (p=0.046). Aged animals compared to adult show similar LPS-induced SWA during movement, but exaggerated cytokine response and increased SWA during quiescence.ConclusionsCytokine-SWA correlations during wakefulness are consistent with observations in patients with delirium. Absence of connectivity effects after accounting for movement changes suggests decreased connectivity in patients is a biomarker of hypoactivity. Exaggerated effects in quiescent aged animals are consistent with increased hypoactive delirium in older patients. Prostaglandin-adenosine signaling may link inflammation to neural changes and hence delirium.


1995 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Cohen ◽  
Maureen Kane-Wineland ◽  
Laura V. Miller ◽  
Catherine L. Hatfield

Otolaryngologists often prescribe head movement exercise programs for patients with vestibular disorders, although the effectiveness of these programs and the critical features of the exercises are poorly understood. Because many patients who dislike exercising do not follow through with their exercises, alternatives to the traditional repetitive exercises would be useful. Subjects diagnosed with vestibular disorders were treated for 6 weeks with either an outpatient exercise program that incorporated interesting, purposeful activities or a simple home program of head movements, comparable with the exercises otolaryngologists often give their patients when they do not refer to rehabilitation. Both treatments incorporated repetitive head movements in all planes in space, graduated in size and speed. Subjects were all tested before and after treatment with standard measures of vestibulo-ocular reflex and balance, level of vertigo, gross motor skills, and self-care independence. Subjects in both groups improved significantly on the functional measures, with slightly greater improvements in the occupational therapy group. The results were maintained 3 months after the cessation of intervention. These data suggest that graded purposeful activities are a useful alternative for treating this patient population and that the essential factor in any exercise program is the use of repetitive head movements.


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