Response of flocculus Purkinje cells to adequate vestibular stimulation in the alert monkey: fixation vs. compensatory eye movements

Nystagmus only with fixation in the light: a rare central sign due to cerebellar malfunction

Fixation nystagmus refers to the nystagmus that appears or markedly increases with fixation. While relatively common in infantile (congenital) nystagmus, acquired fixation nystagmus is unusual and has been ascribed to lesions involving the cerebellar nuclei or the fibers projecting from the cerebellum to the brainstem. We aimed to report the clinical features of patients with acquired fixation nystagmus and discuss possible mechanisms using a model simulation and diagnostic significance. We describe four patients with acquired fixation nystagmus that appears or markedly increases with visual fixation. All patients had lesions involving the cerebellum or dorsal medulla. All patients showed direction-changing gaze-evoked nystagmus, impaired smooth pursuit, and decreased vestibular responses on head-impulse tests. The clinical implication of fixation nystagmus is that it may occur in central lesions that impair both smooth pursuit and the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) but without creating a spontaneous nystagmus in the dark. We develop a mathematical model that hypothesizes that fixation nystagmus reflects a central tone imbalance due to abnormal function in cerebellar circuits that normally optimize the interaction between visual following (pursuit) and VOR during attempted fixation. Patients with fixation nystagmus have central lesions involving the cerebellar circuits that are involved in visual-vestibular interactions and normally eliminate biases that cause a spontaneous nystagmus.

Functional and Neuropathological Evidence for a Role of the Brainstem in Autism

The brainstem includes many nuclei and fiber tracts that mediate a wide range of functions. Data from two parallel approaches to the study of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) implicate many brainstem structures. The first approach is to identify the functions affected in ASD and then trace the neural systems mediating those functions. While not included as core symptoms, three areas of function are frequently impaired in ASD: (1) Motor control both of the limbs and body and the control of eye movements; (2) Sensory information processing in vestibular and auditory systems; (3) Control of affect. There are critical brainstem nuclei mediating each of those functions. There are many nuclei critical for eye movement control including the superior colliculus. Vestibular information is first processed in the four nuclei of the vestibular nuclear complex. Auditory information is relayed to the dorsal and ventral cochlear nuclei and subsequently processed in multiple other brainstem nuclei. Critical structures in affect regulation are the brainstem sources of serotonin and norepinephrine, the raphe nuclei and the locus ceruleus. The second approach is the analysis of abnormalities from direct study of ASD brains. The structure most commonly identified as abnormal in neuropathological studies is the cerebellum. It is classically a major component of the motor system, critical for coordination. It has also been implicated in cognitive and language functions, among the core symptoms of ASD. This structure works very closely with the cerebral cortex; the cortex and the cerebellum show parallel enlargement over evolution. The cerebellum receives input from cortex via relays in the pontine nuclei. In addition, climbing fiber input to cerebellum comes from the inferior olive of the medulla. Mossy fiber input comes from the arcuate nucleus of the medulla as well as the pontine nuclei. The cerebellum projects to several brainstem nuclei including the vestibular nuclear complex and the red nucleus. There are thus multiple brainstem nuclei distributed at all levels of the brainstem, medulla, pons, and midbrain, that participate in functions affected in ASD. There is direct evidence that the cerebellum may be abnormal in ASD. The evidence strongly indicates that analysis of these structures could add to our understanding of the neural basis of ASD.

Role of the Vermal Cerebellum in Visually Guided Eye Movements and Visual Motion Perception

The cerebellar cortex is a crystal-like structure consisting of an almost endless repetition of a canonical microcircuit that applies the same computational principle to different inputs. The output of this transformation is broadcasted to extracerebellar structures by way of the deep cerebellar nuclei. Visually guided eye movements are accommodated by different parts of the cerebellum. This review primarily discusses the role of the oculomotor part of the vermal cerebellum [the oculomotor vermis (OMV)] in the control of visually guided saccades and smooth-pursuit eye movements. Both types of eye movements require the mapping of retinal information onto motor vectors, a transformation that is optimized by the OMV, considering information on past performance. Unlike the role of the OMV in the guidance of eye movements, the contribution of the adjoining vermal cortex to visual motion perception is nonmotor and involves a cerebellar influence on information processing in the cerebral cortex.

Cerebellar Purkinje cells control eye movements with a rapid rate code that is invariant to spike irregularity

The rate and temporal pattern of neural spiking each have the potential to influence computation. In the cerebellum, it has been hypothesized that the irregularity of interspike intervals in Purkinje cells affects their ability to transmit information to downstream neurons. Accordingly, during oculomotor behavior in mice and rhesus monkeys, mean irregularity of Purkinje cell spiking varied with mean eye velocity. However, moment-to-moment variations revealed a tight correlation between eye velocity and spike rate, with no additional information conveyed by spike irregularity. Moreover, when spike rate and irregularity were independently controlled using optogenetic stimulation, the eye movements elicited were well-described by a linear population rate code with 3-5 ms temporal precision. Biophysical and random-walk models identified biologically realistic parameter ranges that determine whether spike irregularity influences responses downstream. The results demonstrate cerebellar control of movements through a remarkably rapid rate code, with no evidence for an additional contribution of spike irregularity.

Impairment of Long-Term Plasticity of Cerebellar Purkinje Cells Eliminates the Effect of Anodal Direct Current Stimulation on Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Habituation

Anodal direct current stimulation (DCS) of the cerebellum facilitates adaptation tasks, but the mechanism underlying this effect is poorly understood. We have evaluated whether the effects of DCS effects depend on plasticity of cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs). Here, we have successfully developed a mouse model of cerebellar DCS, allowing us to present the first demonstration of cerebellar DCS driven behavioral changes in rodents. We have utilized a simple gain down vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) adaptation paradigm, that stabilizes a visual image on the retina during brief head movements, as behavioral tool. Our results provide evidence that anodal stimulation has an acute post-stimulation effect on baseline gain reduction of VOR (VOR gain in sham, anodal and cathodal groups are 0.75 ± 0.12, 0.68 ± 0.1, and 0.78 ± 0.05, respectively). Moreover, this anodal induced decrease in VOR gain is directly dependent on the PP2B medicated synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) and intrinsic plasticity pathways of PCs.

Short-term adaptive changes in the human vestibulo-ocular reflex arc

1. Two sets of experiments have examined the vestibulo-ocular response (VOR) to repeated sinusoidal rotation (A) in the dark and (B) after attempting visual tracking of a mirror-reversed image of the visual surround.2. In both A and B a horizontal sinusoidal rotational stimulus of 1/6 Hz and 60 degrees /sec angular velocity amplitude was employed, specifically chosen to lie within the presumed range of natural stimulation of the semicircular canals.3. In A each of seven subjects underwent ten 2-min runs of the standard stimulus in the dark on each of three consecutive days, with 3-min rest periods between runs. Using d.c. electro-oculography (EOG) the VOR gain was measured throughout as eye velocity/head velocity. Mental arousal was maintained by competitive mental arithmetic. Constancy of EOG gain was assured by 50 min dark adaptation before experimentation.4. The results of A showed no consistent change of VOR gain over the three times scales of a run, a day and the 3-day experiment.5. In B the same subjects underwent a similar pattern of vestibular stimulation, but during eight of the 2-min daily runs they attempted the reversed visual tracking task. VOR gain was measured during the 1st, 6th and last runs which were conducted in the dark for this purpose. Constancy of EOG gain was maintained by using red light throughout.6. The results of B showed a substantial (approx. 25%) and highly significant (P << 0.001) reduction of VOR gain attributable solely to the 16 min of reversed visual tracking attempted during the 50 min daily experiment. In addition the pre-test control gain was lower on day 3 than on day 1 (approx. 10% attenuation, P < 0.01) indicating a small cumulative effect from beginning to end of the 3-day experiment.7. It is concluded (A) that the repeated vestibular stimulus did not itself cause significant attenuation of VOR gain, but (B) that superposition of a reversed visual tracking task did induce retained VOR attenuation which was solely due to the antagonistic visual stimulus.8. In conjunction with other experimental evidence it is inferred that this attenuation probably represents an adaptive change in the VOR induced at least in part by retinal image slip.

Extreme vestibulo-ocular adaptation induced by prolonged optical reversal of vision

1. These experiments investigated plastic changes in the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) of human subjects consequent to long-term optical reversal of vision during free head movement. Horizontal vision-reversal was produced by head-mounted dove prisms. Four normal adults were continuously exposed to these conditions during 2, 6, 7 and 27 days respectively.2. A sinusoidal rotational stimulus, previously shown to be nonhabituating (1/6 Hz; 60 degrees /sec amplitude), was used to test the VOR in the dark at frequent intervals both during the period of vision-reversal and an equal period after return to normal vision. D.c. electro-oculography (EOG) was used to record eye movement, taking care to avoid changes of EOG gain due to light/dark adaptation of the retina.3. All subjects showed substantial reduction of VOR gain (eye velocity/head velocity) during the first 2 days of vision-reversal. The 6-, 7- and 27-day subjects showed further reduction of gain which reached a low plateau at about 25% the normal value by the end of one week. At this time the attenuation of some EOG records was so marked as to defy extraction of a meaningful sinusoidal signal.4. After removal of the prisms VOR gain recovered along a time course which approximated that of the original adaptive attenuation.5. In the 27-day experiment large changes of phase developed in the VOR during the second week of vision-reversal. These changes generally progressed in a lagging sense, to reach 130 degrees phase lag relative to normal by the beginning of the third week. Accompanying this was a considerable restoration of gain from 25 to 50% the normal value. These adapted conditions, which approximate functional reversal of the reflex, were then maintained steady, even overnight, until return to normal vision on the 28th day.6. Thereafter, whereas VOR phase returned to near-normal in 2 hr, restoration of gain occupied a further 2-3 weeks.7. There was a highly systematic relation between instantaneous gain and phase, even during periods of widely fluctuating change associated with transition from one steady state to another. During such transition there was a tendency for directional preponderance to occur in the VOR.8. All the observed changes were highly specific to the plane of vision-reversal, no VOR changes being observed in the sagittal plane.9. VOR changes were adaptive, in the sense that they were always goal-directed towards the requirements of retinal image stabilization during head movement. They were plastic to the extent that there was extensive and retained remodelling of the reflex towards this goal.10. It is inferred that all the observed changes in gain and phase are compatible with a simple neural network employing known vestibulo-ocular projections via brainstem and cerebellar pathways, providing that the reversed visual tracking task can produce plastic modulation of efficacy in the cerebellar pathway and that this pathway exhibits a dynamic characteristic producing moderate phase lead in a sinusoidal signal at 1/6 Hz.

Purkinje cell responses during visually and vestibularly driven smooth eye movements in mice

INTRODUCTION

An essential complement to molecular-genetic approaches for analyzing the function of the oculomotor circuitry in mice is an understanding of sensory and motor signal processing in the circuit. Although there has been extensive analysis of the signals carried by neurons in the oculomotor circuits of species, such as monkeys, rabbits and goldfish, relatively little in vivo physiology has been done in the oculomotor circuitry of mice. We analyzed the contribution of vestibular and nonvestibular signals to the responses of individual Purkinje cells in the cerebellar flocculus of mice.

METHODS

We recorded Purkinje cells in the cerebellar flocculus of C57BL/6 mice during eye movement responses to vestibular and visual stimulation.

RESULTS

As in other species, most individual Purkinje cells in mice carried both vestibular and nonvestibular signals, and the most common response across cells was an increase in firing in response to ipsiversive eye movement or ipsiversive head movement. When both the head and eyes were moving, the Purkinje cell responses were approximated as a linear summation of head and eye velocity inputs. Unlike other species, floccular Purkinje cells in mice were considerably more sensitive to eye velocity than head velocity.

CONCLUSIONS

The signal content of Purkinje cells in the cerebellar flocculus of mice was qualitatively similar to that in other species. However, the eye velocity sensitivity was higher than in other species, which may reflect a tuning to the smaller range of eye velocities in mice.

A tale of two species: Neural integration in zebrafish and monkeys

Selection of a model organism creates tension between competing constraints. The recent explosion of modern molecular techniques has revolutionized the analysis of neural systems in organisms that are amenable to genetic techniques. Yet, the non-human primate remains the gold-standard for the analysis of the neural basis of behavior, and as a bridge to the operation of the human brain. The challenge is to generalize across species in a way that exposes the operation of circuits as well as the relationship of circuits to behavior. Eye movements provide an opportunity to cross the bridge from mechanism to behavior through research on diverse species. Here, we review experiments and computational studies on a circuit function called "neural integration" that occurs in the brainstems of larval zebrafish, primates, and species "in between". We show that analysis of circuit structure using modern molecular and imaging approaches in zebrafish has remarkable explanatory power for details of the responses of integrator neurons in the monkey. The combination of research from the two species has led to a much stronger hypothesis for the implementation of the neural integrator than could have been achieved using either species alone.

Cerebellar Purkinje cell activity drives motor learning

The climbing fiber input to the cerebellar cortex is thought to provide instructive signals that drive the induction of motor skill learning. We found that optogenetic activation of Purkinje cells, the sole output neurons of the cerebellar cortex, can also drive motor learning in mice. This dual control over the induction of learning by climbing fibers and Purkinje cells can expand the learning capacity of motor circuits.

Differential retinal origins of separate anatomical channels for pattern and motion vision in rabbit

The most conspicuous feature of the rabbit retina is the visual streak that extends along the horizontal azimuth from the nasal margin to the temporal limit of the retina. We believe the streak processes movement vision and that the temporal region (area centralis) is responsible for pattern perception. Both anatomical and behavioural experiments were used to test this hypothesis. Behavioural measures of pattern vision in normal and chiasma-sectioned rabbits revealed both to have the same visual acuity. Using OKN as a measure of movement vision, normal rabbits showed both a directional and velocity-tuned response. The chiasma-sectioned rabbits, with only uncrossed fibre projections remaining, showed a total loss of movement detection. The injection of HRP into the vitreal chamber of one eye in normal rabbits revealed extensive uptake throughout the contralateral thalamus. In the ipsilateral thalamus, there was uptake solely from the ipsilateral retinal projection to a restricted wafer of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). The chiasma cut rabbits showed a very different distribution of HRP in the thalamus. The uptake was restricted to a thin wafer of the LGN, with no contralateral uptake. Thus, the thalamic projections from the retinal area centralis were strictly segregated from the thalamic target areas for the visual streak without any overlap. These findings provide strong evidence for separate retinal origins with anatomically separate pathways for pattern and movement vision in the rabbit.

Internal models of eye movement in the floccular complex of the monkey cerebellum

Internal models are a key feature of most modern theories of motor control. Yet, it has been challenging to localize internal models in the brain, or to demonstrate that they are more than a metaphor. In the present review, I consider a large body of data on the cerebellar floccular complex, asking whether floccular output has features that would be expected of the output from internal models. I argue that the simple spike firing rates of a single group of floccular Purkinje cells could reflect the output of three different internal models. (1) An eye velocity positive feedback pathway through the floccular complex provides neural inertia for smooth pursuit eye movements, and appears to operate as a model of the inertia of real-world objects. (2) The floccular complex processes and combines input signals so that the dynamics of its average simple spike output are appropriate for the dynamics of the downstream brainstem circuits and eyeball. If we consider the brainstem circuits and eyeball as a more broadly conceived "oculomotor plant," then the output from the floccular complex could be the manifestation of an inverse model of "plant" dynamics. (3) Floccular output reflects an internal model of the physics of the orbit where head and eye motion sum to produce gaze motion. The effects of learning on floccular output suggest that it is modeling the interaction of the visually-guided and vestibular-driven components of eye and gaze motion. Perhaps the insights from studying oculomotor control provide groundwork to guide the analysis of internal models for a wide variety of cerebellar behaviors.

Cerebellar inputs to motor cortex

The macaque cerebellar nuclei all project topically onto a common thalamic field that is somatotopically organized in its projection to motor cortex. The complete overlap (except at the cellular level) of dentate and interpositus (and possibly fastigius and vestibular nuclei) projection onto the somatotopic thalamic field implies a complete body representation within each cerebellar nucleus, rather than a preferential representation of trunk in fastigius, proximal limb in interpositus and digits in dentate, as is sometimes supposed. Dentate receives from association cortex and generates the earliest signals, which assist motor cortex in initiating goal-directed movements. Interpositus receives the spinocerebellar projection and provides a fast input to motor cortex from the periphery, perhaps used in transcortical 'reflex' responses and in the control of oscillation. Fastigius and vestibular nuclei provide an opportunity for labyrinthine control of motor cortex activities-even for the digits. What is unique about cerebellar input to motor cortex? Recent work has emphasized two aspects: switching of a cerebellar signal on or off through Purkinje cell inhibition, and adjusting the magnitude of the signal to optimize motor performance.

Effect of chronic ethanol ingestion on Purkinje and Golgi cell firing in vivo and on motor coordination in mice

As motor coordination impairment is a common symptom of acute and chronic alcohol intoxication, different studies have been conducted on cerebellar Purkinje cell sensitivity to ethanol since Purkinje cell firing constitutes the final integrative output of the cerebellar cortex. However, the effects of chronic ethanol ingestion on Purkinje firing and other cerebellar neurons such as Golgi cells remain unknown. Here, we studied the extracellular discharge of Purkinje and Golgi cells in four groups of non-anesthetized mice drinking ad libitum either 0%, 6%, 12% or 18% ethanol isocallorically compensated with sucrose 25% during a 3-month period. No difference in Golgi cell firing was found with respect to ethanol consumption. The only group that presented significant differences in Purkinje cell firing compared to the other groups was the 18% ethanol-drinking group. These mice presented decreased simple spike and complex spike firing and increased complex spike duration and pause. The 18% ethanol-drinking group was also the only one to present a slight but significant motor coordination impairment (evaluated by rotarod and runway) in naïve task. No motor coordination impairment was noticed in task learned before ethanol consumption. These results suggest that chronic high doses of ethanol are necessary to produce Purkinje cell firing alterations and measurable motor coordination impairment in naïve task. These alterations in Purkinje cell firing did not affect the ability to learn or to recall a motor coordination task.

Fast oscillation in the cerebellar cortex of calcium binding protein-deficient mice: a new sensorimotor arrest rhythm

Fast oscillations (>100 Hz) may serve physiological roles when regulated properly. They may also appear in pathological conditions. In cerebellum, 160 Hz oscillation emerge in mice lacking calbindin and/or calretinin, two proteins devoted to calcium buffering in Purkinje and granule cells, respectively. Here, we review the pharmacological and spatiotemporal properties of this fast cerebellar oscillation and the related Purkinje cell firing behaviour in alert mice. We show that this oscillation is highly synchronized along the parallel fiber beam and reversibly inhibited by gap junctions, GABA(A) and NMDA receptors blockers. Cutaneous stimulation of the whisker region transiently suppressed the oscillation which shows in some aspects similarities with cerebral "resting" rhythmic activities of wakefulness arresting to sensory or motor information such as alpha and mu rhythms. The Purkinje cells of these mutants present an increased simple spike firing rate, rhythmicity and synchronicity, and a decreased complex spike duration and subsequent pause. Both simple and complex spikes may be tightly phase-locked with the oscillation. Contrastingly, on slice recordings, the intrinsic membrane properties of Purkinje cell are similar in wild type mice and in mice lacking calbindin. The role played by this fast cerebellar oscillation in the emergence of ataxia is yet to be solved.

The effects of stimulating the cerebellar nodulus in the cat on the responses of vestibular neurons

In a first series of experiments, recordings were obtained from cat abducens and trochlear motorneurons and from axons of secondary vestibular neurons terminating in these motor nuclei, and the effects of cerebellar nodulus stimulation on utricular- and canal-evoked responses in these neurons were studied. Ultricular activation of vestibular axons recorded in the ipsilateral VIth and contralateral IVth nuclei was probably monosynaptically inhibited by nodular stimulation provided conditioning-test intervals were in the range between 0-10 ms and the test stimuli were close to threshold intensities. Of the vestibular axons activated by stimulation of the semicircular canal nerves only those evoked by the horizontal canal stimulation and recorded in the ipsilateral VIth nucleus were weakly inhibited. When the vestibular stimuli were strong enough to produce clear field potentials in the motor nuclei and/or postsynaptic potentials in motorneurons, nodular stimulation had practically no effect on their amplitudes. It is concluded that inhibition of vestibuloocular transmission is weak as compared to floccular inhibition studied previously. In a second series of experiments, recordings were obtained from vestibular neurons which were activated antidromically and/or transsynaptically by stimulation of the contralateral fastigial nucleus, and the effects of ipsilateral nodular stimulation on these responses were studied. It was found that nodular stimulation inhibited both antidromic as well as transsynaptic fastigial activations of vestibular neurons. Most of these vestibular neurons were located in the descending vestibular nucleus and received polysynaptic vestibular and spinal inputs. It is concluded that in addition to its weak inhibitory effect on vestibuloocular transmission the nodulus exerts a powerful inhibition on vestibular neurons transmitting vestibular and spinal inputs to cerebellar nuclei and/or cortex. It is suggested that the nodulus controls cerebellar projecting vestibular neurons which carry vestibular and spinal information to the cerebellum. The vestibular, proprioceptive and visual information which is present in the nodulus may aid the role of the nodulus in controlling body posture.

Slow eye movements

Monkeys and humans are able to perform different types of slow eye movements. The analysis of the eye movement parameters, as well as the investigation of the neuronal activity underlying the execution of slow eye movements, offer an excellent opportunity to study higher brain functions such as motion processing, sensorimotor integration, and predictive mechanisms as well as neuronal plasticity and motor learning. As an example, since there exists a tight connection between the execution of slow eye movements and the processing of any kind of motion, these eye movements can be used as a biological, behavioural probe for the neuronal processing of motion. Global visual motion elicits optokinetic nystagmus, acting as a visual gaze stabilization system. The underlying neuronal substrate consists mainly of the cortico-pretecto-olivo-cerebellar pathway. Additionally, another gaze stabilization system depends on the vestibular input known as the vestibulo-ocular reflex. The interactions between the visual and vestibular stabilization system are essential to fulfil the plasticity of the vestibulo-ocular reflex representing a simple form of learning. Local visual motion is a necessary prerequisite for the execution of smooth pursuit eye movements which depend on the cortico-pontino-cerebellar pathway. In the wake of saccades, short-latency eye movements can be elicited by brief movements of the visual scene. Finally, eye movements directed to objects in different planes of depth consist of slow movements also. Although there is some overlap in the neuronal substrates underlying these different types of slow eye movements, there are brain areas whose activity can be associated exclusively with the execution of a special type of slow eye movement.

Multiple subclasses of Purkinje cells in the primate floccular complex provide similar signals to guide learning in the vestibulo-ocular reflex

The neural "learning rules" governing the induction of plasticity in the cerebellum were analyzed by recording the patterns of neural activity in awake, behaving animals during stimuli that induce a form of cerebellum-dependent learning. We recorded the simple- and complex-spike responses of a broad sample of Purkinje cells in the floccular complex during a number of stimulus conditions that induce motor learning in the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Each subclass of Purkinje cells carried essentially the same information about required changes in the gain of the VOR. The correlation of simple-spike activity in Purkinje cells with activity in vestibular pathways could guide learning during low-frequency but not high-frequency stimuli. Climbing fiber activity could guide learning during all stimuli tested but only if compared with the activity present approximately 100 msec earlier in either vestibular pathways or Purkinje cells.

Role of the cerebellum in movement control and adaptation

Three recent discoveries have substantially improved our knowledge of cerebellar function. First, the forelimb regions of the interpositus nuclei specialize in control of one particular limb movement, reach to grasp. Second, a new model indicates that vestibulo-ocular reflex adaptation requires neural changes in both the cerebellum and the brainstem. Finally, the caudal fastigial nucleus uses both short- and long-term influences to maintain saccade accuracy.

Influence of low dose alcohol on fixation suppression

The decrease of fixation suppression after small doses of alcohol was studied in 40 healthy volunteers (20 male, 20 female) using rotatory stimulation. 0.5 g alcohol per kg body weight were given within 20 min. The maximum fixation suppression and blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) were measured before and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 120, 180 and 240 min after ingestion. We determined the maximum angular acceleration during which total suppression of the vestibulo-ocular-reflex (VOR) was still possible. Fixation suppression was successful up to mean values of 43.6 degrees/S2 before ingestion of alcohol (reference level). A first significant deterioration of fixation suppression was observed at BAC of 20 mg/100 ml decreasing constantly with increasing BAC. At the median maximum BAC of 65 mg/100 ml, fixation suppression was possible up to acceleration values of 20% compared with reference levels. Measuring of the maximum fixation suppression in rotational tests is a reproducible easy method to describe the central nervous system control of vestibular functions. This method shows impressingly the enormous effects of low doses of alcohol on equilibrium. It is concluded that at BAC of more than 50 mg/100 ml a remaining vestibular nystagmus might be observed when driving a bend.

Vestibular and visual signals in the ventral paraflocculus of the cerebellum in rabbits

Extracellular microelectrode recordings from single cerebellar neurons were made in the ventral paraflocculus of anesthetized, paralyzed pigmented rabbits during vestibular and visual stimulation. The discharge of 6 out of 207 neurons was modulated during vestibular or visual stimulation. The activity of 5 neurons was modulated during vertical vestibular stimulation. The discharge of only one neuron was modulated exclusively during vertical optokinetic stimulation. The information from both the vestibular and visual systems which is received by the ventral paraflocculus appears to differ from that which is received by the flocculus in rabbits.

Responses of units in the rat cerebellar flocculus during optokinetic and vestibular stimulation

The simple (SS) and complex spike (CS) responses of Purkinje (P-cells) and non-Purkinje (non P-cells) in the cerebellar flocculus were studied in alert pigmented rats (DA-HAN) during binocular and monocular optokinetic stimulation (OKS), vestibular stimulation and a combination of the two. Of a total of 98 P-cells whose SS discharges were activated by rotary stimulation of the horizontal canal in the dark (type I and type II P-cells), the vast majority (72%) responded to constant velocity binocular OKS that was produced by means of a horizontal shadow projector system. The remaining P-cells responded only to vestibular stimulation (19%), to OKS or to the presumed fast components of optokinetic and vestibular nystagmus (9%). The optokinetic responses of P-cells were generally bidirectional but asymmetrical, i.e., the increases in rate in one direction were larger in magnitude than decreases on opposite OKS and were synergistic with the semicircular canal input. During constant velocity OKS, the discharge of a few P-cells rose approximately exponentially, outlasted the stimulus by as much as 10-13.5s and, thus, resembled OKS responses of vestibular nucleus neurons. However, the majority exhibited a phasic-tonic response governed by a short "time constant" of from 0.5-3s. The velocity tuning curves of vestibular/OKS responding P-cells showed peak sensitivities with retinal slip velocities of 1.5-2 degrees/s. This is higher than the ca. 1 degree/s determined for other relay nuclei of the horizontal optokinetic pathway. The responses of non P-cells suggest that they originate from mossy fiber projections from vestibular, visual (optokinetic) and saccadic eye movement-related areas of the brainstem. Most of the units carried a combined vestibular and optokinetic signal. The majority showed a bidirection-selective response to OKS, and a small percentage showed unidirectional responses only. Monocular testing of P-cells revealed that most received a bidirection-selective, but asymmetrical, OKS input. Slightly more than half of these had a strongest OKS drive from the contralateral eye; the remaining units were driven most strongly by the ipsilateral eye. Unidirection-selective P-cells, driven by OKS to the ipsi- or contralateral eye, were uncommon; yet this class is common among other portions of the horizontal optokinetic system (e.g., vestibular nuclei, praepositus hypoglossi nucleus, nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Effects of ocular fixation on perrotatory nystagmus in damped pendular rotation test

Effects of ocular fixation on pendular rotation nystagmus were investigated in 65 patients. There were 25 with peripheral vestibular or vestibulo-cochlear disorders, 17 with central vestibular disorders, five with congenital nystagmus, 16 patients over 60 years old with vertigo in whom peripheral vestibular disorders were ruled out, however, the causes were unknown. Damped pendular rotation test (DPRT) was performed both under darkness and employing mental arithmetic and under ocular fixation. These findings were related to those of caloric vestibular suppression test (VST) by Takemori and those of optokinetic pattern test (OKP), eye tracking test (ETT), and spontaneous nystagmus. Thirteen of 17 patients with central vestibular disorders and five with congenital nystagmus showed loss of visual suppression during ocular fixation in DPRT, whereas in cases of peripheral lesions, visual suppression was observed. Loss of visual suppression during ocular fixation in DPRT was often seen in cases of brainstem and cerebellar lesions. In brainstem lesions, perrotatory nystagmus was evoked during ocular fixation, whereas no nystagmus was seen in darkness with eyes open. In cerebellar lesions, perrotatory nystagmus was partly suppressed or decreased during ocular fixation. Relationships between the direction of the visual suppression during ocular fixation in DPRT and the side of the lesion were not apparent. Ocular fixation test in DPRT has a diagnostic value not only for central lesions, but for differentiating brainstem lesion from cerebellar lesion with the findings in DPRT under darkness. The findings under ocular fixation in DPRT are closely related to those of VST in cases of caloric nystagmus.

Eye oscillations in strobe reared cats

Cats reared from birth in stroboscopic illumination develop abnormal spontaneous eye oscillations of low amplitude. The present experiments were undertaken to define these eye movements as recorded in the dark, in stroboscopic light of various frequencies, after exposure to normal light and after attenuation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain by optical reversal of vision. The interaction of spontaneous eye oscillations with voluntary saccadic eye movements, and optokinetic tracking (OKN), were also studied. Two cats, reared from birth to 18 months in 8 Hz strobe light, and one normally reared control animal, were used. Horizontal movement of the right eye was measured by the scleral eye coil method. The frequency content of eye movement records was determined by power spectral analysis. VOR gain was estimated in the dark, by rotating the animals sinusoidally at 1/8 Hz and 5 degrees/sec velocity amplitude. In the dark, both strobe reared cats had abnormal spontaneous eye oscillations at a frequency close to 8 Hz, with peak-to-peak amplitudes of 0.5--1.0 degrees. These abnormal eye movements did not interfere with, nor were they abolished by, normal oculomotor activity. The introduction of strobe light modified the spontaneous eye movements by entraining the oscillations at a given 'forcing' frequency, and by producing a number of harmonics or sub-harmonics. In one of the strobe reared animals, the effect of normal light was to reduce the characteristic 'dark' value of 9 Hz, to a new maintained 'light' value of 2.7 Hz. Adaptive attenuation of the VOR gain caused the abolition of regular spontaneous eye oscillations in the dark; nevertheless, transient oscillations to single strobe flashes could still be elicited in the VOR adapted condition. The results are interpreted as representing an organised attempt by the developing oculomotor system to attain the goal of stable visual perception in a new visual environment.

Characteristics of nystagmus produced by reversible lesions of the medial cerebellar nuclei in the alert monkey

Synaptic activity of the medial cerebellar nuclei was reversibly blocked in 6 Cebus monkeys by cooling through a sheath implanted alongside the fastigial nucleus. Such lesions produced in the dark a strong nystagmus (slow phase velocity 100-200 deg/sec). The slow phase of nystagmus was predominantly in the horizontal plane and was towards the side of the lesion (ipsilateral drift). The maximum velocity of drift was independent of eye position and was directly related to the degree of cooling. Vision abolished the nystagmus. If lights were turned on during nystagmus the drift velocity rapidly decreased to zero with an instantaneous and an exponential component. It is suggested that these results emphasize the importance of the medial cerebellum, possibly by way of the fastigial nucleus, in balancing the output of the paired vestibular nuclei.

Vestibular input to visual tracking neurons in the posterior parietal association cortex of the monkey

Single unit recordings were made in the posterior parietal association cortex (area 7) of the behaving monkey. Visual tracking neurons were identified by the discharge pattern during the task of pursuit of moving visual objects. Vestibular inputs to these tracking neurons were examined by sinusoidal rotation of the turntable, on which the monkey was seated. The activity of more than half of horizontal tracking neurons was modulated by horizontal rotation in the dark. Most of them responded to the head rotation with the same preferred direction as visual tracking. It was concluded that visual tracking neurons of area 7 receive vestibular input and therefore are likely to integrate visual and vestibular informations.

Optokinetic nystagmus and parietal lobe lesions

In an attempt to define better the mechanism of impaired optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) caused by parietal lobe lesions, we recorded the eye movements of two patients. One had a slowly enlarging parietal glioma, and the other, an infarction involving the parietal and occipital lobes. In both patients, ipsilateral foveal pursuit and full-field pursuit of a surrounding optokinetic drum were impaired while voluntary and involuntary saccades (fast components) were normal. Foveal pursuit was impaired more than full-field pursuit, suggesting the existence of two separate pathways by which visual signals for OKN slow phases reach the oculomotor centers in the brainstem. We conclude that the ipsilateral slow phase OKN deficit seen in our patients resulted from damage to the foveal pursuit pathway that runs from the occipitoparietal association area to the ipsilateral brainstem horizontal gaze center.

Projections of the nucleus of the basal optic root in the pigeon: an autoradiographic and horseradish peroxidase study

The efferent projections of the nBOR complex, have been studied with both anterograde autoradiographic and retrograde horseradish peroxidase (HRP) techniques. The nBOR complex includes three distinct subdivisions: the nucleus of the basal optic root (nBOR), the nBOR pars dorsalis (nBORd) and the nBOR pars lateralis (nBOR1). Unilateral injections of 3H-leucine or 3H-proline/3H-leucine mixtures into the nBOR complex have demonstrated prominent bilateral projections upon (1) the vestibulocerebellum, (2) the inferior olivary complex, (3) the oculomotor nuclear complex, (4) the nucleus interstitialis, contralateral projections upon (5) the contralateral nBOR complex and ipsilateral projections upon (6) a pretectal nucleus, the nucleus lentiformis mesencephali, pars magnocellularis. Unilateral injections of HRP confined to folia IXc,d and paraflocculus of the cerebellum, the contralateral nBOR complex or the nucleus lentiformis mesencephali resulted in retrograde labeling of predominantly medium and large size cells within the entire nBOR complex. Unilateral injections of HRP within the inferior olive resulted in retrograde labeling of small, spindle-shaped cells within nBOR and nBORd. Unilateral injections of the oculomotor complex which included the trochlear nucleus resulted in retrograde labeling of small cells within the ipsilateral nBORd and predominantly medium and large cells in the contralateral nBOR. The displaced ganglion cells of the retina give rise to a prominent and distinct projection upon the nBOR complex (Karten et al., '77). The nBOR complex in turn projects upon the oculomotor nuclear complex, the nucleus interstitialis and the vestibulocerebellum, regions which have been implicated in oculomotor function. These findings strongly suggest that the displaced ganglion cells and the accessory optic system have a major influence upon oculomotor reflexes including eye and head movements.

Loss of visual suppression of caloric nystagmus in cats

Loss of visual suppression (VS) of caloric nystagmus was produced after creating flocculus lesions. The flocculus receives visual signals through a climbing fiber pathway via the inferior olive (IO) and through a mossy fiber pathway (MF) presumably via the superior colliculus (SC). In order to elucidate the prefloccular nuclei responsible for VS of caloric nystagmus, VS of caloric nystagmus was investigated after making lesions in such nuclei as the SC and the IO in 42 cats. After the IO lesion, VS of caloric nystagmus was revealed in all IO-lesioned cats throughout the whole experimental course. After the SC lesion, loss of VS was constantly observed and persisted in 7 out of 9 cats. Hence, the MF pathway via the SC is believed to be the most likely candidate for the immediate modification of the vestibuloocular reflex by visual stimuli.

Inhibition of labyrinthine nystagmus by visual fixation: effects of ablation of visual cortex and superior colliculi

A study was conducted to destroy two specific areas of the cat's visual system in order to determine if these lesions would affect the visual inhibition of calorically-induced vestibular nystagmus. The occipital visual cortex was removed in eight cats and the superior colliculi were removed bilaterally in nine cats. Postoperative vestibular testing revealed no significant change in the electronystagmography tracings and response to visual fixation. These findings suggest that, in cats, the visual inhibition of labyrinthine nystagmus is not dependent upon the integrity of the visual cortex or superior colliculi. The hypothesis is brought forward that the visual inhibition of the vestibular nystagmus is merely a reflex of the brain stem to light stimulus, mediated via the cerebellum.

Modification of the macaque's vestibulo-ocular reflex after ablation of the cerebellar vermis

In macaque, the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) as evaluated by the time constant of nystagmus in a modified Bárány spinning test, shows a regular pattern of change with time after ablation of the vermis cerebelli. One day ablation the time constant is in the low normal range; it then increases, and after one week assumes values in the high normal range. While the time constant is high, the VOR is resistant to modification by repeated testing, but may be modified by unidirectional optokinetic nystagmus and by experience with reversing spectacles. These results suggest that the vermis of the cerebellum plays no crucial role in modifications of the VOR by visual inputs, but is involved when the VOR is modified by repeated vestibular experience.