Vestibular control of skeletal geometry in the guinea pig: a problem of good trim?

First evidence of the link between internal and external structure of the human inner ear otolith system using 3D morphometric modeling

Our sense of balance is among the most central of our sensory systems, particularly in the evolution of human positional behavior. The peripheral vestibular system (PVS) comprises the organs responsible for this sense; the semicircular canals (detecting angular acceleration) and otolith organs (utricle and saccule; detecting linear acceleration, vibration, and head tilt). Reconstructing vestibular evolution in the human lineage, however, is problematic. In contrast to considerable study of the canals, relationships between external bone and internal membranous otolith organs (otolith system) remain largely unexplored. This limits our understanding of vestibular functional morphology. This study combines spherical harmonic modeling and landmark-based shape analyses to model the configuration of the human otolith system. Our approach serves two aims: (1) test the hypothesis that bony form covaries with internal membranous anatomy; and (2) create a 3D morphometric model visualizing bony and membranous structure. Results demonstrate significant associations between bony and membranous tissues of the otolith system. These data provide the first evidence that external structure of the human otolith system is directly related to internal anatomy, suggesting a basic biological relationship. Our results visualize this structural relationship, offering new avenues into vestibular biomechanical modeling and assessing the evolution of the human balance system.

How Does the Central Nervous System for Posture and Locomotion Cope With Damage-Induced Neural Asymmetry?

In most vertebrates, posture and locomotion are achieved by a biomechanical apparatus whose effectors are symmetrically positioned around the main body axis. Logically, motor commands to these effectors are intrinsically adapted to such anatomical symmetry, and the underlying sensory-motor neural networks are correspondingly arranged during central nervous system (CNS) development. However, many developmental and/or life accidents may alter such neural organization and acutely generate asymmetries in motor operation that are often at least partially compensated for over time. First, we briefly present the basic sensory-motor organization of posturo-locomotor networks in vertebrates. Next, we review some aspects of neural plasticity that is implemented in response to unilateral central injury or asymmetrical sensory deprivation in order to substantially restore symmetry in the control of posturo-locomotor functions. Data are finally discussed in the context of CNS structure-function relationship.

Vestibular Influence on Vertebrate Skeletal Symmetry and Body Shape

Vestibular endorgans in the vertebrate inner ear form the principal sensors for head orientation and motion in space. Following the evolutionary appearance of these organs in pre-vertebrate ancestors, specific sensory epithelial patches, such as the utricle, which is sensitive to linear acceleration and orientation of the head with respect to earth’s gravity, have become particularly important for constant postural stabilization. This influence operates through descending neuronal populations with evolutionarily conserved hindbrain origins that directly and indirectly control spinal motoneurons of axial and limb muscles. During embryogenesis and early post-embryonic periods, bilateral otolith signals contribute to the formation of symmetric skeletal elements through a balanced activation of axial muscles. This role has been validated by removal of otolith signals on one side during a specific developmental period in Xenopus laevis tadpoles. This intervention causes severe scoliotic deformations that remain permanent and extend into adulthood. Accordingly, the functional influence of weight-bearing otoconia, likely on utricular hair cells and resultant afferent discharge, represents a mechanism to ensure a symmetric muscle tonus essential for establishing a normal body shape. Such an impact is presumably occurring within a critical period that is curtailed by the functional completion of central vestibulo-motor circuits and by the modifiability of skeletal elements before ossification of the bones. Thus, bilateral otolith organs and their associated sensitivity to head orientation and linear accelerations are not only indispensable for real time postural stabilization during motion in space but also serve as a guidance for the ontogenetic establishment of a symmetric body.

Breaking a dogma: acute anti-inflammatory treatment alters both post-lesional functional recovery and endogenous adaptive plasticity mechanisms in a rodent model of acute peripheral vestibulopathy

BACKGROUND

Due to their anti-inflammatory action, corticosteroids are the reference treatment for brain injuries and many inflammatory diseases. However, the benefits of acute corticotherapy are now being questioned, particularly in the case of acute peripheral vestibulopathies (APV), characterized by a vestibular syndrome composed of sustained spinning vertigo, spontaneous ocular nystagmus and oscillopsia, perceptual-cognitive, posturo-locomotor, and vegetative disorders. We assessed the effectiveness of acute corticotherapy, and the functional role of acute inflammation observed after sudden unilateral vestibular loss.

METHODS

We used the rodent model of unilateral vestibular neurectomy, mimicking the syndrome observed in patients with APV. We treated the animals during the acute phase of the vestibular syndrome, either with placebo or methylprednisolone, an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid. At the cellular level, impacts of methylprednisolone on endogenous plasticity mechanisms were assessed through analysis of cell proliferation and survival, glial reactions, neuron's membrane excitability, and stress marker. At the behavioral level, vestibular and posturo-locomotor functions' recovery were assessed with appropriate qualitative and quantitative evaluations.

RESULTS

We observed that acute treatment with methylprednisolone significantly decreases glial reactions, cell proliferation and survival. In addition, stress and excitability markers were significantly impacted by the treatment. Besides, vestibular syndrome's intensity was enhanced, and vestibular compensation delayed under acute methylprednisolone treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

We show here, for the first time, that acute anti-inflammatory treatment alters the expression of the adaptive plasticity mechanisms in the deafferented vestibular nuclei and generates enhanced and prolonged vestibular and postural deficits. These results strongly suggest a beneficial role for acute endogenous neuroinflammation in vestibular compensation. They open the way to a change in dogma for the treatment and therapeutic management of vestibular patients.

Quantitative Evaluation of a New Posturo-Locomotor Phenotype in a Rodent Model of Acute Unilateral Vestibulopathy

Vestibular pathologies are difficult to diagnose. Existing devices make it possible to quantify and follow the evolution of posturo-locomotor symptoms following vestibular loss in static conditions. However, today, there are no diagnostic tools allowing the quantitative and spontaneous analysis of these symptoms in dynamic situations. With this in mind, we used an open-field video tracking test aiming at identifying specific posturo-locomotor markers in a rodent model of vestibular pathology. Using Ethovision XT 14 software (Noldus), we identified and quantified several behavioral parameters typical of unilateral vestibular lesions in a rat model of vestibular pathology. The unilateral vestibular neurectomy (UVN) rat model reproduces the symptoms of acute unilateral peripheral vestibulopathy in humans. Our data show deficits in locomotion velocity, distance traveled and animal mobility in the first day after the injury. We also highlighted alterations in several parameters, such as head and body acceleration, locomotor pattern, and position of the body, as well as “circling” behavior after vestibular loss. Here, we provide an enriched posturo-locomotor phenotype specific to full and irreversible unilateral vestibular loss. This test helps to strengthen the quantitative evaluation of vestibular disorders in unilateral vestibular lesion rat model. It may also be useful for testing pharmacological compounds promoting the restoration of balance. Transfer of these novel evaluation parameters to human pathology may improve the diagnosis of acute unilateral vestibulopathies and could better follow the evolution of the symptoms upon pharmacological and physical rehabilitation.

Lateral semi-circular canal asymmetry in females with idiopathic scoliosis

Purpose

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a three-dimensional spinal structural deformity that occurs in otherwise normal individuals. Although curve progression and severity vary amongst individuals, AIS can lead to significant cosmetic and functional deformity. AIS etiology has been determined to be genetic, however, exact genetic and biological processes underlying this disorder remain unknown. Vestibular structure and function have potentially been related to the etiopathogenesis of AIS. Here, we aimed to characterize the anatomy of the semicircular canals (SCC) within the vestibular system through a novel approach utilizing T2-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI).

Methods

Three dimensional, MRI-based models of the SCCs were generated from AIS subjects (n = 20) and healthy control subjects (n = 19). Linear mixed models were used to compare SCC morphological measurements in the two groups. We compared side-to-side differences in the SCC measurements between groups (group*side interaction).

Results

Side-to-side differences in the lateral SCC were different between the two groups [false discovery rate adjusted p-value: 0.0107]. Orientation of right versus left lateral SCC was significantly different in the AIS group compared to the control group [mean side-to-side difference: -4.1°, 95% CI: -6.4° to -1.7°]. Overall, among subjects in the AIS group, the left lateral SCC tended to be oriented in a more horizontal position than subjects in the control group.

Significance

Asymmetry within the SCCs of the vestibular system of individuals with AIS potentially results in abnormal efferent activity to postural muscles. Consequences of this muscular activity during periods of rapid growth, which often coincides with AIS onset and progression, warrant consideration.

Dopamine Modulates Motor Control in a Specific Plane Related to Support

At the acute stage following unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL), rats, mice or guinea pigs exhibit a complex motor syndrome combining circling (HSCC lesion) and rolling (utricular lesion). At the chronic stage, they only display circling, because proprioceptive information related to the plane of support substitutes the missing utricular information to control posture in the frontal plane. Circling is also observed following unilateral lesion of the mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons by 6- hydroxydopamine hydrobromide (6-OHDA rats) and systemic injection of apomorphine (APO rats). The resemblance of behavior induced by unilateral vestibular and dopaminergic lesions at the chronic stage can be interpreted in two ways. One hypothesis is that the dopaminergic system exerts three-dimensional control over motricity, as the vestibular system does. If this hypothesis is correct, then a unilateral lesion of the nigro-striatal pathway should induce three-dimensional motor deficits, i.e., circling and at least some sort of barrel rolling at the acute stage of the lesion. Then, compensation could also take place very rapidly based on proprioception, which would explain the prevalence of circling. In addition, barrel rolling should reappear when the rodent is placed in water, as it occurs in UL vertebrates. Alternatively, the dopaminergic network, together with neurons processing the horizontal canal information, could control the homeostasis of posture and locomotion specifically in one and only one plane of space, i.e. the plane related to the basis of support. In that case, barrel rolling should never occur, whether at the acute or chronic stage on firm ground or in water. Moreover, circling should have the same characteristics following both types of lesions. Clearly, 6-OHDA and APO-rats never exhibited barrel rolling at the acute stage. They circled at the acute stage of the lesion and continued to do so three weeks later, including in water. In contrast, UL-rats, exhibited both circling and barrel rolling at the acute stage, and then only circled on the ground. Furthermore, barrel rolling instantaneously reappeared in water in UL rats, which was not the case in 6-OHDA and APO-rats. That is, the lesion of the dopaminergic system on one side did not compromise trim in the pitch and roll planes, even when proprioceptive information related to the basis of support was lacking as in water. Altogether, these results strongly suggest that dopamine does not exert three-dimensional control of the motor system but regulates postural control in one particular plane of space, the one related to the basis of support. In contrast, as previously shown, the vestibular system exerts three-dimensional control on posture. That is, we show here for the first time a relationship between a given neuromodulator and the spatial organization of motor control.

Postural and locomotor control in normal and vestibularly deficient mice

We investigated how vestibular information is used to maintain posture and control movement by studying vestibularly deficient mice (IsK-/- mutant). In these mutants, microscopy showed degeneration of the cristae of the semicircular canals and of the maculae of the utriculi and sacculi, while behavioural and vestibulo-ocular reflex testing showed that vestibular function was completely absent. However, the histology of Scarpa's ganglia and the vestibular nerves was normal in mutant mice, indicating the presence of intact central pathways. Using X-ray and high-speed cineradiography, we compared resting postures and locomotion patterns between these vestibularly deficient mice and vestibularly normal mice (wild-type and IsK+/-). The absence of vestibular function did not affect resting posture but had profound effects on locomotion. At rest, the S-shaped, sagittal posture of the vertebral column was the same for wild-type and mutant mice. Both held the head with the atlanto-occipital joint fully flexed, the cervico-thoracic junction fully flexed, and the cervical column upright. Wild-type mice extended the head and vertebral column and could walk in a straight line. In marked contrast, locomotion in vestibularly deficient mice was characterized by circling episodes, during which the vertebral column maintained an S-shaped posture. Thus, vestibular information is not required to control resting posture but is mandatory for normal locomotion. We propose that vestibular inputs are required to signal the completion of a planned trajectory because mutant mice continued rotating after changing heading direction. Our findings support the hypothesis that vertebrates limit the number of degrees of freedom to be controlled by adopting just a few of the possible skeletal configurations.

Vestibular and optokinetic function in the normal guinea pig

Vestibular and optokinetic function was quantitatively studied in the normal guinea pig through investigation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), optokinetic nystagmus (OKN), and the visual vestibulo-ocular reflex (VVOR) by means of sinusoidal stimulation with a computer-controlled rate table (VOR and VVOR) or an optokinetic drum. The VOR exhibited high-pass filter characteristics with steady state gain achieved at 0.125 Hz. The maximum gain was 0.55 at a velocity of 60 degrees/s. The VOR was modeled by a transfer function with best fits obtained with an adaptation time constant of 12.5 seconds. The OKN showed low-pass filter characteristics with a decrease in gain for increase in stimulus amplitude. The maximum gain measured was 0.64. A fractional pole model provided a fit of these data. The VVOR exhibited a mean gain of between 0.6 and 0.7 across the stimulus bandwidth and peak velocities. A model based on a linear combination of the actual OKN and VOR gains provided an estimate of the VVOR gain.