Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in response to laterally directed skull taps

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krister Brantberg ◽  
Arne Tribukait
Keyword(s):  
Vestibular Function ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials ◽  
Vestibular Loss ◽  
Skin Electrodes ◽  
Function Loss ◽  
Relaxation Responses ◽  
Muscular Responses

In recent years it has been demonstrated that loud clicks generate short latency vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP). It has also been demonstrated that midline forehead skull tap stimulation evokes similar VEMP. In the present study, the influence of skull tap direction on VEMP was studied in 13 normal subjects and in five patients with unilateral vestibular loss. Gentle skull taps were delivered manually above each ear on the side of the skull. The muscular responses were recorded over both sternocleidomastoid muscles using skin electrodes. Among the normals, laterally directed skull taps evoked “coordinated contraction-relaxation responses”, i.e. skull taps on one side evoked a negative-positive “inverted” VEMP on that side and a positive-negative "normal" VEMP on the other side. Among patients with unilateral vestibular function loss, skull taps above the lesioned ear evoked similar coordinated contraction-relaxation responses. However, skull taps above the healthy ear did not evoke that type of response. These findings suggest that laterally directed skull taps activate mainly the contralateral labyrinth.

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in response to skull taps for patients with vestibular neuritis

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 121-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krister Brantberg ◽  
Arne Tribukait ◽  
Per-Anders Fransson
Keyword(s):  
Head Tilt ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
Vestibular Nerve ◽  
Vestibular Neuritis ◽  
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials ◽  
Skin Electrodes ◽  
Static Head ◽  
Utricular Function ◽  
Muscular Responses

In recent years it has been demonstrated that loud clicks generate short latency vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP). It has also been demonstrated that skull tap stimulation evokes similar VEMP. In the present study, the differences between the click-induced and the skull-tap induced VEMP were studied in 18 patients at onset of vestibular neuritis. Gentle skull taps were delivered manually above each ear on the side of the skull and on the forehead midline. The muscular responses were recorded over both sternocleidomastoid muscles using skin electrodes. Abnormal skull tap VEMP were found in the majority of the patients (10/18, 56%). However, only 4/18 (22%) showed asymmetry in the click-induced VEMP. The high percentage of abnormal skull tap VEMP might suggest that this response is not only dependent on the inferior division of the vestibular nerve, because the inferior division of this nerve is usually spared in vestibular neuritis. Moreover, the patients with abnormals kull tap VEMP differed from those with normal VEMP in their settings of the subjective visual horizontal with static head tilt in the roll plane. This might suggest that skull tap VEMP are (also) related to utricular function.

Investigating short latency subcortical vestibular projections in humans: what have we learned?

2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 2000-2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Colebatch ◽  
Sally M. Rosengren
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Physiological Role ◽  
Vestibular Function ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials ◽  
Ocular Vemp ◽  
Motor Unit Firing ◽  
Cervical Vemp ◽  
Noninvasive Assessment

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) are now widely used for the noninvasive assessment of vestibular function and diagnosis in humans. This review focuses on the origin, properties, and mechanisms of cervical VEMPs and ocular VEMPs; how these reflexes relate to reports of vestibular projections to brain stem and cervical targets; and the physiological role of (otolithic) cervical and ocular reflexes. The evidence suggests that both VEMPs are likely to represent the effects of excitation of irregularly firing otolith afferents. While the air-conducted cervical VEMP appears to mainly arise from excitation of saccular receptors, the ocular VEMP evoked by bone-conducted stimulation, including impulsive bone-conducted stimuli, mainly arises from utricular afferents. The surface responses are generated by brief changes in motor unit firing. The effects that have been demonstrated are likely to represent otolith-dependent vestibulocollic and vestibulo-ocular reflexes, both linear and torsional. These observations add to previous reports of short latency otolith projections to the target muscles in the neck (sternocleidomastoid and splenius) and extraocular muscles (the inferior oblique). New insights have been provided by the investigation and application of these techniques.

Preservation of tap vestibular evoked myogenic potentials despite resection of the inferior vestibular nerve

2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krister Brantberg ◽  
Tiit Mathiesen
Keyword(s):  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Vestibular Function ◽  
Vestibular Nerve ◽  
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials ◽  
Nerve Function ◽  
Sound Stimulation ◽  
Vestibular Loss ◽  
Vestibular Neurectomy ◽  
Inferior Vestibular Nerve ◽  
Healthy Side

Sound and skull-tap induced vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) were studied in a 43-year-old man following inferior vestibular neurectomy. Surgery was performed because of a small acoustic neuroma. Postoperative caloric testing suggested sparing of superior vestibular nerve function on the operated side. In response to sound stimulation there were no VEMP on the operated side, irrespective of whether sounds were presented by air- or bone-conduction. This suggests sound-induced VEMP to be critically dependent on inferior vestibular nerve function and this is in agreement with present knowledge. However, VEMP were obtained in response to forehead skull taps, i.e. positive-negative VEMP not only on the healthy side but also on the operated side. This suggests remnant vestibular function on the operated side of importance for forehead skull tap VEMP, because with complete unilateral vestibular loss there are no (positive-negative) VEMP on the lesioned side. Thus, forehead skull-tap VEMP depend, at least partly, on the superior vestibular nerve function.

Eye movements during torso rotations in labyrinthine-defective subjects

1999 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 401-412
Author(s):  
Y.P. Ivanenko ◽  
I. Viaud-Delmon ◽  
A. Sémont ◽  
V.S. Gurfinkel ◽  
A. Berthoz
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Slow Component ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Vestibular Function ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
The Body ◽  
Vestibular Loss ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Oculomotor Responses

The aim of this study was to examine whether the chronic loss of vestibular function modifies perceptual and oculomotor responses during torso rotations in darkness. Subjects (4 patients with complete vestibular loss and 7 healthy volunteers) were seated on a rotating chair. Stimuli consisted of sinusoidal chair rotations ( ± 30 ∘ , 0.1 Hz and 0.011 Hz). We used 2 conditions: space stationary head (neck stimulation) and space stationary head and shoulders (torso stimulation). Horizontal eye deviations and slow component of eye movements were analysed. The results showed that eye movements and perception of head motion in space during neck stimulation were similar to those during torso stimulation both in normal and labyrinthine-defective (LD) subjects. During low-frequency chair rotations (0.011 Hz) all subjects perceived illusory head or head and shoulder rotation in space (as if the lower part of the body was stationary relative to the room) and shifted their gaze in the direction of illusory head rotation. In these conditions there was no significant difference in eye movements between normal and LD subjects. During higher frequency chair rotations (0.1 Hz), LD subjects had significantly larger eye deviations as well as increases in the gain of the slow component of eye movements relative to normals. In these conditions patients mostly perceived illusory head or head and shoulder rotation in space while normal subjects mainly perceived the head as stationary in space. The results indicate that 1) neck and torso rotations can evoke similar ocular responses in LD subjects, 2) the chronic loss of vestibular function modifies the representation of axial body segment motion relative to space.

scholarly journals Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials evoked by brief interaural head acceleration: properties and possible origin

2009 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 841-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally M. Rosengren ◽  
Neil P. M. Todd ◽  
James G. Colebatch
Keyword(s):  
Positive Response ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Lateral Acceleration ◽  
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials ◽  
Head Acceleration ◽  
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential ◽  
Side Peak ◽  
Vestibular Loss ◽  
Intact Side ◽  
Late Positivity

The vestibular system responds to head acceleration by producing compensatory reflexes in the eyes and postural muscles. In this study, we investigated the effect of brief interaural acceleration on the vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) in 10 normal subjects and 10 patients with bilateral (bVL) or unilateral vestibular loss (uVL). The stimuli were delivered with a handheld minishaker and tendon hammer over the mastoid and produced relatively pure interaural head acceleration with little rotation (mean peak acceleration: 0.14 g at 3.3 ms). VEMPs were recorded from the neck muscles and were characterized in normal subjects by a positive/negative potential ipsilateral to the stimulated side (peak latencies: 15.1 and 22.6 ms) and a positive response contralaterally (20.3 ms), which was sometimes preceded by a negativity (14.5 ms). These peaks were absent in patients with bVL, confirming their vestibular dependence. In the patients with uVL, medial acceleration of the intact ear produced bilateral responses, an initial positivity on the intact side, and a negativity on the affected side, whereas lateral acceleration produced only a late positivity on the intact side. As the acceleration was primarily in the horizontal plane, it is likely to have activated utricular receptors. Consistent with this, we found that VEMPs are very sensitive to the direction of head acceleration and have features consistent with the utriculocollic projections demonstrated in animals.

Phase-Plane Analysis of Gaze Stabilization to High Acceleration Head Thrusts: A Continuum Across Normal Subjects and Patients With Loss of Vestibular Function

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 1763-1781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace C. Y. Peng ◽  
David S. Zee ◽  
Lloyd B. Minor
Keyword(s):  
Vestibular Function ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Phase Plane Analysis ◽  
Vestibular Loss ◽  
Gaze Stabilization ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Velocity Error ◽  
High Acceleration ◽  
Gaze Position

We investigated the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) during high-acceleration, yaw-axis, head rotations in 12 normals and 15 patients with vestibular loss [7 unilateral vestibular deficient (UVD) and 8 bilateral vestibular deficient (BVD)]. We analyzed gaze stabilization within a 200-ms window after head rotation began, using phase planes, which allowed simultaneous analysis of gaze velocity and gaze position. These “gaze planes” revealed critical dynamic information not easily gleaned from traditional gain measurements. We found linear relationships between peak gaze-velocity and peak gaze-position error when normalized to peak head speed and position, respectively. Values fell on a continuum, increasing from normals, to normals tested with very high acceleration (VHA = 10,000–20,000°/s2), to UVD patients during rotations toward the intact side, to UVD patients during rotations toward the lesioned side, to BVD patients. We classified compensatory gaze corrections as gaze-position corrections (GPCs) or gaze-velocity error corrections (GVCs). We defined patients as better-compensated when the value of their end gaze position was low relative to peak gaze position. In the gaze plane this criterion corresponded to relatively stereotyped patterns over many rotations, and appearance of high velocity (100–400°/s) GPCs in the gaze plane ending quadrant (150–200 ms after head movement onset). In less-compensated patients, and normals at VHA, more GVCs were generated, and GPCs were generated only after gaze-velocity error was minimized. These findings suggest that challenges to compensatory vestibular function can be from vestibular deficiency or novel stimuli not previously experienced. Similar patterns of challenge and compensation were observed in both patients with vestibular loss and normal subjects.

scholarly journals Linking Vestibular Function and Subcortical Gray Matter Volume Changes in a Longitudinal Study of Aging Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Padova ◽  
J. Tilak Ratnanather ◽  
Qian-Li Xue ◽  
Susan M. Resnick ◽  
Yuri Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Brain Mri ◽  
Vestibular Function ◽  
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Vestibular Loss ◽  
Horizontal Semicircular Canal ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Over Time

Emerging evidence suggests a relationship between impairments of the vestibular (inner ear balance) system and alterations in the function and the structure of the central nervous system (CNS) in older adults. However, it is unclear whether age-related vestibular loss is associated with volume loss in brain regions known to receive vestibular input. To address this gap, we investigated the association between vestibular function and the volumes of four structures that process vestibular information (the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, thalamus, and basal ganglia) in a longitudinal study of 97 healthy, older participants from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Vestibular testing included cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) to measure saccular function, ocular VEMP (oVEMP) to measure utricular function, and video head impulse tests to measure the horizontal semicircular canal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Participants in the sample had vestibular and brain MRI data for a total of one (18.6%), two (49.5%), and three (32.0%) visits. Linear mixed-effects regression was used to model regional volume over time as a function of vestibular physiological function, correcting for age, sex, intracranial volume, and intersubject random variation in the baseline levels and rates of change of volume over time. We found that poorer saccular function, characterized by lower cVEMP amplitude, is associated with reduced bilateral volumes of the basal ganglia and thalamus at each time point, demonstrated by a 0.0714 cm3 ± 0.0344 (unadjusted p = 0.038; 95% CI: 0.00397–0.139) lower bilateral-mean volume of the basal ganglia and a 0.0440 cm3 ± 0.0221 (unadjusted p = 0.046; 95% CI: 0.000727–0.0873) lower bilateral-mean volume of the thalamus for each 1-unit lower cVEMP amplitude. We also found a relationship between a lower mean VOR gain and lower left hippocampal volume (β = 0.121, unadjusted p = 0.018, 95% CI: 0.0212–0.222). There were no significant associations between volume and oVEMP. These findings provide insight into the specific brain structures that undergo atrophy in the context of age-related loss of peripheral vestibular function.

Determination of Factor XIII Activity and of Factor XIII Inhibitors Using an Ammonium-Sensitive Electrode

1983 ◽  
Vol 50 (02) ◽  
pp. 563-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Hellstern ◽  
K Schilz ◽  
G von Blohn ◽  
E Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Factor Xiii ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
The Other ◽  
Activity Measurement ◽  
Factor Xiii Deficiency ◽  
Assay Procedure ◽  
Stabilization Factor ◽  
Release Method ◽  
Sensitive Electrode

SummaryAn assay for rapid factor XIII activity measurement has been developed based on the determination of the ammonium released during fibrin stabilization. Factor XIII was activated by thrombin and calcium. Ammonium was measured by an ammonium-sensitive electrode. It was demonstrated that the assay procedure yields accurate and precise results and that factor XIII-catalyzed fibrin stabilization can be measured kinetically. The amount of ammonium released during the first 90 min of fibrin stabilization was found to be 7.8 ± 0.5 moles per mole fibrinogen, which is in agreement with the findings of other authors. In 15 normal subjects and in 15 patients suffering from diseases with suspected factor XIII deficiency there was a satisfactory correlation between the results obtained by the “ammonium-release-method”, Bohn’s method, and the immunological assay (r1 = 0.65; r2= 0.70; p<0.01). In 3 of 5 patients with paraproteinemias the values of factor XIII activity determined by the ammonium-release method were markedly lower than those estimated by the other methods. It could be shown that inhibitor mechanisms were responsible for these discrepancies.

Cervical Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potentials Using Vibration and Sound in Normal Subjects

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Ra Na ◽  
Soo Hee Han ◽  
Eun Jung Ha ◽  
Yeo Jin Lee ◽  
Mun Su Park ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document