Contribution of vestibular commissural pathways to spatial orientation of the angular vestibuloocular reflex

In Vivo Localization of the Human Velocity Storage Mechanism and Its Core Cerebellar Networks by Means of Galvanic-Vestibular Afternystagmus and fMRI

Humans are able to estimate head movements accurately despite the short half-life of information coming from our inner ear motion sensors. The observation that the central angular velocity estimate outlives the decaying signal of the semicircular canal afferents led to the concept of a velocity storage mechanism (VSM). The VSM can be activated via visual and vestibular modalities and becomes manifest in ocular motor responses after sustained stimulation like whole-body rotations, optokinetic or galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS). The VSM has been the focus of many computational modelling approaches; little attention though has been paid to discover its actual structural correlates. Animal studies localized the VSM in the medial and superior vestibular nuclei. A significant modulation by cerebellar circuitries including the uvula and nodulus has been proposed. Nevertheless, the corresponding neuroanatomical structures in humans have not been identified so far. The aim of the present study was to delineate the neural substrates of the VSM using high-resolution infratentorial fMRI with a fast T2* sequence optimized for infratentorial neuroimaging and via video-oculography (VOG). The neuroimaging experiment (n=20) gave first in vivo evidence for an involvement of the vestibular nuclei in the VSM and substantiate a crucial role for cerebellar circuitries. Our results emphasize the importance of cerebellar feedback loops in VSM most likely represented by signal increases in vestibulo-cerebellar hubs like the uvula and nodulus and lobule VIIIA. The delineated activation maps give new insights regarding the function and embedment of Crus I, Crus II, and lobule VII and VIII in the human vestibular system.

Vestibular syncope: clinical characteristics and mechanism

Background and Objectives

Vestibular syncope is a condition in which vertigo‐induced hemodynamic changes cause syncope. This study investigated the clinical and laboratory findings of vestibular syncope and tried to refine our knowledge of the mechanism underlying this newly recognized entity.

Methods

This study retrospectively analyzed 53 patients (33 women, median age = 63 years [interquartile range = 54–71 years]) with vestibular syncope from January 2017 to December 2021. To explain the mechanism of vestibular syncope, we incorporated a velocity‐storage model into the dual reflex pathways comprising the vestibulo‐sympathetic reflex and baroreflex and predicted the cardiovascular responses.

Results

Twenty (37.7%) patients had multiple episodes of vestibular syncope, and seven (13.2%) had potentially life‐threatening injuries. Meniere's disease (20.8%) and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (9.4%) were the most common underlying vestibular disorders. Abnormal vestibular function tests included impaired cervical vestibular‐evoked myogenic potentials (57.5%) and positive head impulse tests (31.0%). Orthostatic hypotension was found in 19.5% of patients. Dyslipidemia (30.2%) and hypertension (28.3%) were common medical comorbidities. The dual reflex pathways incorporating the function of the velocity‐storage circuit in the brainstem and cerebellum suggest that vestibular syncope is a neurally mediated reflex syncope associated with a sudden hemodynamic change during vertigo. This change can be arterial hypertension triggered by a false downward inertial cue, as suggested previously, or hypotension driven by a false upward inertial cue.

Conclusions

Vestibular syncope is associated with various vestibular disorders and requires careful evaluation and intervention to prevent recurrent falls and significant injuries.

Can Dyssynergia of Vestibulosympathetic and Baroreflexes Cause Vestibular Syncope? The Hypothesis Based on the Velocity-Storage Function

The mechanism of vestibular syncope, the syncope occurring during the vertigo attacks, remains uncertain. This study aims to clarify the mechanism of vestibular syncope by pursuing the function of vestibular system in cardiovascular autonomic control and by defining neuro-hemodynamic changes in vestibular syncope. By integrating the velocity-storage (VS) circuit in the brainstem and cerebellum, we propose that the vestibular syncope develops as a result of dyssynergia of the vestibulosympathetic and baroreflexes in which centrally estimated downward inertial acceleration during the vertigo attacks acts as a trigger. Recognition of the vestibular disorders as a possible cause of syncope would allow proper managements for prevention of further syncope and related complications in patients with vestibular disorders.

The Scientific Contributions of Bernard Cohen (1929-2019)

Throughout Bernard Cohen's active career at Mount Sinai that lasted over a half century, he was involved in research on vestibular control of the oculomotor, body postural, and autonomic systems in animals and humans, contributing to our understanding of such maladies as motion sickness, mal de débarquement syndrome, and orthostatic syncope. This review is an attempt to trace and connect Cohen's varied research interests and his approaches to them. His influence was vast. His scientific contributions will continue to drive research directions for many years to come.

Vestibular, locomotor, and vestibulo-autonomic research: 50 years of collaboration with Bernard Cohen

My collaboration on the vestibulo-ocular reflex with Bernard Cohen began in 1972. Until 2017, this collaboration included studies of saccades, quick phases of nystagmus, the introduction of the concept of velocity storage, the relationship of velocity storage to motion sickness, primate and human locomotion, and studies of vasovagal syncope. These studies have elucidated the functioning of the vestibuloocular reflex, the locomotor system, the functioning of the vestibulo-sympathetic reflex, and how blood pressure and heart rate are controlled by the vestibular system. Although it is virtually impossible to review all the contributions in detail in a single paper, this article traces a thread of modeling that I brought to the collaboration, which, coupled with Bernie Cohen's expertise in vestibular and sensory-motor physiology and clinical insights, has broadened our understanding of the role of the vestibular system in a wide range of sensory-motor systems. Specifically, the paper traces how the concept of a relaxation oscillator was used to model the slow and rapid phases of ocular nystagmus. Velocity information that drives the slow compensatory eye movements was used to activate the saccadic system that resets the eyes, giving rise to the relaxation oscillator properties and simulated nystagmus as well as predicting the types of unit activity that generated saccades and nystagmic beats. The slow compensatory component of ocular nystagmus was studied in depth and gave rise to the idea that there was a velocity storage mechanism or integrator that not only is a focus for visual-vestibular interaction but also codes spatial orientation relative to gravity as referenced by the otoliths. Velocity storage also contributes to motion sickness when there are visual-vestibular as well as orientation mismatches in velocity storage. The relaxation oscillator concept was subsequently used to model the stance and swing phases of locomotion, how this impacted head and eye movements to maintain gaze in the direction of body motion, and how these were affected by Parkinson's disease. Finally, the relaxation oscillator was used to elucidate the functional form of the systolic and diastolic beats during blood pressure and how vasovagal syncope might be initiated by cerebellar-vestibular malfunction.

Self-motion perception is sensitized in vestibular migraine: pathophysiologic and clinical implications

Vestibular migraine (VM) is the most common cause of spontaneous vertigo but remains poorly understood. We investigated the hypothesis that central vestibular pathways are sensitized in VM by measuring self-motion perceptual thresholds in patients and control subjects and by characterizing the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and vestibular and headache symptom severity. VM patients were abnormally sensitive to roll tilt, which co-modulates semicircular canal and otolith organ activity, but not to motions that activate the canals or otolith organs in isolation, implying sensitization of canal-otolith integration. When tilt thresholds were considered together with vestibular symptom severity or VOR dynamics, VM patients segregated into two clusters. Thresholds in one cluster correlated positively with symptoms and with the VOR time constant; thresholds in the second cluster were uniformly low and independent of symptoms and the time constant. The VM threshold abnormality showed a frequency-dependence that paralleled the brain stem velocity storage mechanism. These results support a pathogenic model where vestibular symptoms emanate from the vestibular nuclei, which are sensitized by migraine-related brainstem regions and simultaneously suppressed by inhibitory feedback from the cerebellar nodulus and uvula, the site of canal-otolith integration. This conceptual framework elucidates VM pathophysiology and could potentially facilitate its diagnosis and treatment.

Modeling Interval Timing by Recurrent Neural Nets

The purpose of this study was to take a new approach in showing how the central nervous system might encode time at the supra-second level using recurrent neural nets (RNNs). This approach utilizes units with a delayed feedback, whose feedback weight determines the temporal properties of specific neurons in the network architecture. When these feedback neurons are coupled, they form a multilayered dynamical system that can be used to model temporal responses to steps of input in multidimensional systems. The timing network was implemented using separate recurrent “Go” and “No-Go” neural processing units to process an individual stimulus indicating the time of reward availability. Outputs from these distinct units on each time step are converted to a pulse reflecting a weighted sum of the separate Go and No-Go signals. This output pulse then drives an integrator unit, whose feedback weight and input weights shape the pulse distribution. This system was used to model empirical data from rodents performing in an instrumental “peak interval timing” task for two stimuli, Tone and Flash. For each of these stimuli, reward availability was signaled after different times from stimulus onset during training. Rodent performance was assessed on non-rewarded trials, following training, with each stimulus tested individually and simultaneously in a stimulus compound. The associated weights in the Go/No-Go network were trained using experimental data showing the mean distribution of bar press rates across an 80 s period in which a tone stimulus signaled reward after 5 s and a flash stimulus after 30 s from stimulus onset. Different Go/No-Go systems were used for each stimulus, but the weighted output of each fed into a final recurrent integrator unit, whose weights were unmodifiable. The recurrent neural net (RNN) model was implemented using Matlab and Matlab’s machine learning tools were utilized to train the network using the data from non-rewarded trials. The neural net output accurately fit the temporal distribution of tone and flash-initiated bar press data. Furthermore, a “Temporal Averaging” effect was also obtained when the flash and tone stimuli were combined. These results indicated that the system combining tone and flash responses were not superposed as in a linear system, but that there was a non-linearity, which interacted between tone and flash. In order to achieve an accurate fit to the empirical averaging data it was necessary to implement non-linear “saliency functions” that limited the output signal of each stimulus to the final integrator when the other was co-present. The model suggests that the central nervous system encodes timing generation as a dynamical system whose timing properties are embedded in the connection weights of the system. In this way, event timing is coded similar to the way other sensory-motor systems, such as the vestibulo-ocular and optokinetic systems, which combine sensory inputs from the vestibular and visual systems to generate the temporal aspects of compensatory eye movements.

Persistent static imbalance among acute unilateral vestibulopathy patients could be related to a damaged velocity storage system

Background: Acute unilateral vestibulopathy (AUV) is common but, the course of disease recovery is variable. Moreover, the final recovery status might vary between subjects. The remaining symptoms of these patients indicate the poor recovery of static imbalance, which could limit social activities and decrease their quality of life. Objective: To determine the possible predictive parameters of prolonged static imbalance (PSI) among acute AUV, we compared several vestibular function test (VFT) results between control vestibulopathy (CV) and PSI patients. Materials and methods: Subjects were divided into two groups: PSI and CV. PSI was determined by the observation of spontaneous nystagmus at 1 month after discharge from the hospital. VFT results taken during the initial symptoms were compared. Results: Increased phase lead was observed in low-frequency stimulations (p < .05), while the other test results failed to reveal a significant difference. These results indicate that a larger phase lead, which is related to a decrease in the time constant, could be responsible for the delayed recovery of static imbalance. Conclusion and significance: The phase lead was higher in the PSI group compared to the CV group, suggesting the possible role of phase as a parameter to predict the delayed compensation of static imbalance.

Discharge properties of morphologically identified vestibular neurons recorded during horizontal eye movements in the goldfish

Computational capability and connectivity are key elements for understanding how central vestibular neurons contribute to gaze-stabilizing eye movements during self-motion. In the well-characterized and segmentally distributed hindbrain oculomotor network of goldfish, we determined afferent and efferent connections along with discharge patterns of descending octaval nucleus (DO) neurons during different eye motions. Based on activity correlated with horizontal eye and head movements, DO neurons were categorized into two complementary groups that either increased discharge during both contraversive (type II) eye (e) and ipsiversive (type I) head (h) movements (eIIhI) or vice versa (eIhII). Matching time courses of slow-phase eye velocity and corresponding firing rates during prolonged visual and head rotation suggested direct causality in generating extraocular motor commands. The axons of the dominant eIIhI subgroup projected either ipsi- or contralaterally and terminated in the abducens nucleus, Area II, and Area I with additional recurrent collaterals of ipsilaterally projecting neurons within the parent nucleus. Distinct feedforward commissural pathways between bilateral DO neurons likely contribute to the generation of eye velocity signals in eIhII cells. The shared contribution of DO and Area II neurons to eye velocity storage likely represents an ancestral condition in goldfish that is clearly at variance with the task separation between mammalian medial vestibular and prepositus hypoglossi neurons. This difference in signal processing between fish and mammals might correlate with a larger repertoire of visuo-vestibular-driven eye movements in the latter species that potentially required a shift in sensitivity and connectivity within the hindbrain-cerebello-oculomotor network.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY We describe the structure and function of neurons within the goldfish descending octaval nucleus. Our findings indicate that eye and head velocity signals are processed by vestibular and Area II velocity storage integrator circuitries whereas the velocity-to-position Area I neural integrator generates eye position solely. This ancestral condition differs from that of mammals, in which vestibular neurons generally lack eye position signals that are processed and stored within the nucleus prepositus hypoglossi.

Coding of Velocity Storage in the Vestibular Nuclei

Semicircular canal afferents sense angular acceleration and output angular velocity with a short time constant of ≈4.5 s. This output is prolonged by a central integrative network, velocity storage that lengthens the time constants of eye velocity. This mechanism utilizes canal, otolith, and visual (optokinetic) information to align the axis of eye velocity toward the spatial vertical when head orientation is off-vertical axis. Previous studies indicated that vestibular-only (VO) and vestibular-pause-saccade (VPS) neurons located in the medial and superior vestibular nucleus could code all aspects of velocity storage. A recently developed technique enabled prolonged recording while animals were rotated and received optokinetic stimulation about a spatial vertical axis while upright, side-down, prone, and supine. Firing rates of 33 VO and 8 VPS neurons were studied in alert cynomolgus monkeys. Majority VO neurons were closely correlated with the horizontal component of velocity storage in head coordinates, regardless of head orientation in space. Approximately, half of all tested neurons (46%) code horizontal component of velocity in head coordinates, while the other half (54%) changed their firing rates as the head was oriented relative to the spatial vertical, coding the horizontal component of eye velocity in spatial coordinates. Some VO neurons only coded the cross-coupled pitch or roll components that move the axis of eye rotation toward the spatial vertical. Sixty-five percent of these VO and VPS neurons were more sensitive to rotation in one direction (predominantly contralateral), providing directional orientation for the subset of VO neurons on either side of the brainstem. This indicates that the three-dimensional velocity storage integrator is composed of directional subsets of neurons that are likely to be the bases for the spatial characteristics of velocity storage. Most VPS neurons ceased firing during drowsiness, but the firing rates of VO neurons were unaffected by states of alertness and declined with the time constant of velocity storage. Thus, the VO neurons are the prime components of the mechanism of coding for velocity storage, whereas the VPS neurons are likely to provide the path from the vestibular to the oculomotor system for the VO neurons.

The role of GABAB receptors in the vestibular oculomotor system in mice

Systemic administration of a gamma-amino butyric acid type B (GABAB) receptor agonist, baclofen, affects various physiological and psychological processes. To date, the effects on oculomotor system have been well characterized in primates, however those in mice have not been explored. In this study, we investigated the effects of baclofen focusing on vestibular-related eye movements. Two rotational paradigms, i.e. sinusoidal rotation and counter rotation were employed to stimulate semicircular canals and otolith organs in the inner ear. Experimental conditions (dosage, routes and onset of recording) were determined based on the prior studies exploring the behavioral effects of baclofen in mice. With an increase in dosage, both canal and otolith induced ocular responses were gradually affected. There was a clear distinction in the drug sensitivity showing that eye movements derived from direct vestibulo-ocular reflex pathways were relatively unaltered, while the responses through higher-order neural networks in the vestibular system were substantially decreased. These findings were consistent with those observed in primates suggesting a well-conserved role of GABAB receptors in the oculomotor system across frontal-eyed and lateral-eyed animals. We showed here a previously unrecognized effect of baclofen on the vestibular oculomotor function in mice. When interpreting general animal performance under the drug, the potential contribution of altered balance system should be taken into consideration.

A Model of Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, and Vaso-Vagal Responses Produced by Vestibulo-Sympathetic Activation

Blood Pressure (BP), comprised of recurrent systoles and diastoles, is controlled by central mechanisms to maintain blood flow. Periodic behavior of BP was modeled to study how peak amplitudes and frequencies of the systoles are modulated by vestibular activation. The model was implemented as a relaxation oscillator, driven by a central signal related to Desired BP. Relaxation oscillations were maintained by a second order system comprising two integrators and a threshold element in the feedback loop. The output signal related to BP was generated as a nonlinear function of the derivative of the first state variable, which is a summation of an input related to Desired BP, feedback from the states, and an input from the vestibular system into one of the feedback loops. This nonlinear function was structured to best simulate the shapes of systoles and diastoles, the relationship between BP and Heart Rate (HR) as well as the amplitude modulations of BP and Pulse Pressure. Increases in threshold in one of the feedback loops produced lower frequencies of HR, but generated large pulse pressures to maintain orthostasis, without generating a VasoVagal Response (VVR). Pulse pressures were considerably smaller in the anesthetized rats than during the simulations, but simulated pulse pressures were lowered by including saturation in the feedback loop. Stochastic changes in threshold maintained the compensatory Baroreflex Sensitivity. Sudden decreases in Desired BP elicited non-compensatory VVRs with smaller pulse pressures, consistent with experimental data. The model suggests that the Vestibular Sympathetic Reflex (VSR) modulates BP and HR of an oscillating system by manipulating parameters of the baroreflex feedback and the signals that maintain the oscillations. It also shows that a VVR is generated when the vestibular input triggers a marked reduction in Desired BP.

Vestibular function in the temporal and parietal cortex: distinct velocity and inertial processing pathways

A number of behavioral and neuroimaging studies have reported converging data in favor of a cortical network for vestibular function, distributed between the temporo-parietal cortex and the prefrontal cortex in the primate. In this review, we focus on the role of the cerebral cortex in visuo-vestibular integration including the motion sensitive temporo-occipital areas i.e., the middle superior temporal area (MST) and the parietal cortex. Indeed, these two neighboring cortical regions, though they both receive combined vestibular and visual information, have distinct implications in vestibular function. In sum, this review of the literature leads to the idea of two separate cortical vestibular sub-systems forming (1) a velocity pathway including MST and direct descending pathways on vestibular nuclei. As it receives well-defined visual and vestibular velocity signals, this pathway is likely involved in heading perception and rapid top-down regulation of eye/head coordination and (2) an inertial processing pathway involving the parietal cortex in connection with the subcortical vestibular nuclei complex responsible for velocity storage integration. This vestibular cortical pathway would be implicated in high-order multimodal integration and cognitive functions, including world space and self-referential processing.

Otolith signals contribute to inter-individual differences in the perception of gravity-centered space

The aim of the present study was to investigate (1) the relative contribution of the egocentric reference as well as body orientation perception to visual horizon percept during tilt or during increased gravito-inertial acceleration (GiA, hypergravity environment) conditions and (2) the role of vestibular signals in the inter-individual differences observed in these perceptual modalities. Perceptual estimates analysis showed that backward tilt induced (1) an elevation of the visual horizon, (2) an elevation of the egocentric estimation (visual straight ahead) and (3) an overestimation of body tilt. The increase in the magnitude of GiA induced (1) a lowering of the apparent horizon, (2) a lowering of the straight ahead and (3) a perception of backward tilt. Overall, visual horizon percept can be expressed as the combination of body orientation perception and egocentric estimation. When assessing otolith reactivity using off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR), only visual egocentric estimation was significantly correlated with horizontal OVAR performance. On the one hand, we found a correlation between a low modulation amplitude of the otolith responses and straight ahead accuracy when the head axis was tilted relative to gravity. On the other hand, the bias of otolith responses was significantly correlated with straight ahead accuracy when subjects were submitted to an increase in the GiA. Thus, straight ahead sense would be dependent to some extent to otolith function. These results are discussed in terms of the contribution of otolith inputs in the overall multimodal integration subtending spatial constancy.

Spatial and temporal properties of eye movements produced by electrical stimulation of semicircular canal afferents

To investigate the characteristics of eye movements produced by electrical stimulation of semicircular canal afferents, we studied the spatial and temporal features of eye movements elicited by short-term lateral canal stimulation in two squirrel monkeys with plugged lateral canals, with the head upright or statically tilted in the roll plane. The electrically induced vestibuloocular reflex (eVOR) evoked with the head upright decayed more quickly than the stimulation signal provided by the electrode, demonstrating an absence of the classic velocity storage effect that improves the dynamics of the low-frequency VOR. When stimulation was provided with the head tilted in roll, however, the eVOR decayed more rapidly than when the head was upright, and a cross-coupled vertical response developed that shifted the eye's rotational axis toward alignment with gravity. These results demonstrate that rotational information provided by electrical stimulation of canal afferents interacts with otolith inputs (or other graviceptive cues) in a qualitatively normal manner, a process that is thought to be mediated by the velocity storage network. The observed interaction between the eVOR and graviceptive cues is of critical importance for the development of a functionally useful vestibular prosthesis. Furthermore, the presence of gravity-dependent effects (dumping, spatial orientation) despite an absence of low-frequency augmentation of the eVOR has not been previously described in any experimental preparation.

Patterns of spontaneous and head-shaking nystagmus in cerebellar infarction: imaging correlations

Horizontal head-shaking may induce nystagmus in peripheral as well as central vestibular lesions. While the patterns and mechanism of head-shaking nystagmus are well established in peripheral vestibulopathy, they require further exploration in central vestibular disorders. To define the characteristics and mechanism of head-shaking nystagmus in central vestibulopathies, we investigated spontaneous nystagmus and head-shaking nystagmus in 72 patients with isolated cerebellar infarction. Spontaneous nystagmus was observed in 28 (39%) patients, and was mostly ipsilesional when observed in unilateral infarction (15/18, 83%). Head-shaking nystagmus developed in 37 (51%) patients, and the horizontal component of head-shaking nystagmus was uniformly ipsilesional when induced in patients with unilateral infarction. Perverted head-shaking nystagmus occurred in 23 (23/37, 62%) patients and was mostly downbeat (22/23, 96%). Lesion subtraction analyses revealed that damage to the uvula, nodulus and inferior tonsil was mostly responsible for generation of head-shaking nystagmus in patients with unilateral posterior inferior cerebellar artery infarction. Ipsilesional head-shaking nystagmus in patients with unilateral cerebellar infarction may be explained by unilateral disruption of uvulonodular inhibition over the velocity storage. Perverted (downbeat) head-shaking nystagmus may be ascribed to impaired control over the spatial orientation of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex due to uvulonodular lesions or a build-up of vertical vestibular asymmetry favouring upward bias due to lesions involving the inferior tonsil.

Velocity storage in the human vertical rotational vestibulo-ocular reflex

Human horizontal rotational vestibulo-ocular reflex (rVOR) has been extensively investigated: the horizontal semicircular canals sense yaw rotations with high-pass filter dynamics and a time constant (TC) around 5 s, yet the rVOR response shows a longer TC due to a central processing stage, known as velocity storage mechanism (VSM). It is generally assumed that the vertical rVOR behaves similarly to the horizontal one; however, VSM processing of the human vertical rVOR is still to be proven. We investigated the vertical rVOR in eight healthy human subjects using three experimental paradigms: (1) per- and post-rotatory around an earth-vertical axis (ear down rotations, EDR), (2) post-rotatory around an earth-horizontal axis with different stopping positions (static otolith stimulation), (3) per-rotatory around an earth-horizontal axis (dynamic otolith stimulation). We found that the TC of vertical rVOR responses ranged 3-10 s, depending both on gravity and on the direction of rotation. The shortest TC were found in response to post-rotatory earth-horizontal stimulation averaging 3.6 s, while they were prolonged in EDR stimulation, i.e. when the head angular velocity vector is aligned with gravity, with a mean value of about 6.0 s. Overall, the longest TC were observed in per-rotatory earth-horizontal stimulation, averaging 7.8 s. The finding of longer TC in EDR than in post-rotatory earth-horizontal stimulation indicates a role for the VSM in the vertical rVOR, although its contribution appears to be weaker than on the horizontal rVOR and may be directionally asymmetric. The results from per-rotatory earth-horizontal stimulation, instead, imply a role for the otoliths in controlling the duration of the vertical rVOR response. We found no reorientation of the response toward earth horizontal, indicating a difference between human and monkey rVOR.

Motion sickness induced by off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR)

We tested the hypothesis that motion sickness is produced by an integration of the disparity between eye velocity and the yaw-axis orientation vector of velocity storage. Disparity was defined as the magnitude of the cross product between these two vectors. OVAR, which is known to produce motion sickness, generates horizontal eye velocity with a bias level related to velocity storage, as well as cyclic modulations due to re-orientation of the head re gravity. On average, the orientation vector is close to the spatial vertical. Thus, disparity can be related to the bias and tilt angle. Motion sickness sensitivity was defined as a ratio of maximum motion sickness score to the number of revolutions, allowing disparity and motion sickness sensitivity to be correlated. Nine subjects were rotated around axes tilted 10 degrees-30 degrees from the spatial vertical at 30 degrees/s-120 degrees/s. Motion sickness sensitivity increased monotonically with increases in the disparity due to changes in rotational velocity and tilt angle. Maximal motion sickness sensitivity and bias (6.8 degrees/s) occurred when rotating at 60 degrees/s about an axis tilted 30 degrees. Modulations in eye velocity during OVAR were unrelated to motion sickness sensitivity. The data were predicted by a model incorporating an estimate of head velocity from otolith activation, which activated velocity storage, followed by an orientation disparity comparator that activated a motion sickness integrator. These results suggest that the sensory-motor conflict that produces motion sickness involves coding of the spatial vertical by the otolith organs and body tilt receptors and processing of eye velocity through velocity storage.

Functional organization of vestibular commissural connections in frog

Central vestibular neurons receive substantial inputs from the contralateral labyrinth through inhibitory and excitatory brainstem commissural pathways. The functional organization of these pathways was studied by a multi-methodological approach in isolated frog whole brains. Retrogradely labeled vestibular commissural neurons were primarily located in the superior vestibular nucleus in rhombomeres 2/3 and the medial and descending vestibular nucleus in rhombomeres 5-7. Restricted projections to contralateral vestibular areas, without collaterals to other classical vestibular targets, indicate that vestibular commissural neurons form a feedforward push-pull circuitry. Electrical stimulation of the contralateral coplanar semicircular canal nerve evoked in canal-related second-order vestibular neurons (2 degrees VN) commissural IPSPs (approximately 70%) and EPSPs (approximately 30%) with mainly (approximately 70%) disynaptic onset latencies. The dynamics of commissural responses to electrical pulse trains suggests mediation predominantly by tonic vestibular neurons that activate in all tonic 2 degrees VN large-amplitude IPSPs with a reversal potential of -74 mV. In contrast, phasic 2 degrees VN exhibited either nonreversible, small-amplitude IPSPs (approximately 40%) of likely dendritic origin or large-amplitude commissural EPSPs (approximately 60%). IPSPs with disynaptic onset latencies were exclusively GABAergic (mainly GABA(A) receptor-mediated) but not glycinergic, compatible with the presence of GABA-immunopositive (approximately 20%) and the absence of glycine-immunopositive vestibular commissural neurons. In contrast, IPSPs with longer, oligosynaptic onset latencies were GABAergic and glycinergic, indicating that both pharmacological types of local inhibitory neurons were activated by excitatory commissural fibers. Conservation of major morpho-physiological and pharmacological features of the vestibular commissural pathway suggests that this phylogenetically old circuitry plays an essential role for the processing of bilateral angular head acceleration signals in vertebrates.

Internal models and neural computation in the vestibular system

The vestibular system is vital for motor control and spatial self-motion perception. Afferents from the otolith organs and the semicircular canals converge with optokinetic, somatosensory and motor-related signals in the vestibular nuclei, which are reciprocally interconnected with the vestibulocerebellar cortex and deep cerebellar nuclei. Here, we review the properties of the many cell types in the vestibular nuclei, as well as some fundamental computations implemented within this brainstem-cerebellar circuitry. These include the sensorimotor transformations for reflex generation, the neural computations for inertial motion estimation, the distinction between active and passive head movements, as well as the integration of vestibular and proprioceptive information for body motion estimation. A common theme in the solution to such computational problems is the concept of internal models and their neural implementation. Recent studies have shed new insights into important organizational principles that closely resemble those proposed for other sensorimotor systems, where their neural basis has often been more difficult to identify. As such, the vestibular system provides an excellent model to explore common neural processing strategies relevant both for reflexive and for goal-directed, voluntary movement as well as perception.

Vestibular integration in human cerebral cortex contributes to spatial remapping

The process of visuo-spatial updating is crucial in guiding human behaviour. While the parietal cortex has long been considered a principal candidate for performing spatial transformations, the exact underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, we investigated in a patient with a right occipito-parietal lesion the ability to update the visual space during vestibularly guided saccades. To quantify the possible deficits in visual and vestibular memory processes, we studied the subject's performance in two separate memory tasks, visual (VIS) and vestibular (VES). In the VIS task, a saccade was elicited from a central fixation point to the location of a visual memorized target and in the VEST task, the saccade was elicited after whole-body rotation to the starting position thus compensating for the rotation. Finally, in an updating task (UPD), the subject had to memorize the position of a visual target then after a whole-body rotation he had to produce a saccade to the remembered visual target location in space. Our main findings was a significant hypometria in the final eye position of both VEST and UPD saccades induced during rotation to the left (contralesional) hemispace as compared to saccades induced after right (ipsilesional) rotation. Moreover, these deficits in vestibularly guided saccades correlated with deficits in vestibulo-ocular time constant, reflecting disorders in the inertial vestibular integration path. We conclude that the occipito-parietal cortex in man can provide a first stage in visuo-spatial remapping by encoding inertial head position signals during gaze orientation.

Present concepts of oculomotor organization

This chapter gives an introduction to the oculomotor system, thus providing a framework for the subsequent chapters. This chapter describes the characteristics, and outlines the structures involved, of the five basic types of eye movements, for gaze holding ("neural integrator") and eye movements in three dimensions (Listing's law, pulleys).

Spatial orientation of optokinetic nystagmus and ocular pursuit during orbital space flight

On Earth, eye velocity of horizontal optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) orients to gravito-inertial acceleration (GIA), the sum of linear accelerations acting on the head and body. We determined whether adaptation to micro-gravity altered this orientation and whether ocular pursuit exhibited similar properties. Eye movements of four astronauts were recorded with three-dimensional video-oculography. Optokinetic stimuli were stripes moving horizontally, vertically, and obliquely at 30 degrees/s. Ocular pursuit was produced by a spot moving horizontally or vertically at 20 degrees/s. Subjects were either stationary or were centrifuged during OKN with 1 or 0.5 g of interaural or dorsoventral centripetal linear acceleration. Average eye position during OKN (the beating field) moved into the quick-phase direction by 10 degrees during lateral and upward field movement in all conditions. The beating field did not shift up during downward OKN on Earth, but there was a strong upward movement of the beating field (9 degrees) during downward OKN in the absence of gravity; this likely represents an adaptation to the lack of a vertical 1-g bias in-flight. The horizontal OKN velocity axis tilted 9 degrees in the roll plane toward the GIA during interaural centrifugation, both on Earth and in space. During oblique OKN, the velocity vector tilted towards the GIA in the roll plane when there was a disparity between the direction of stripe motion and the GIA, but not when the two were aligned. In contrast, dorsoventral acceleration tilted the horizontal OKN velocity vector 6 degrees in pitch away from the GIA. Roll tilts of the horizontal OKN velocity vector toward the GIA during interaural centrifugation are consistent with the orientation properties of velocity storage, but pitch tilts away from the GIA when centrifuged while supine are not. We speculate that visual suppression during OKN may have caused the velocity vector to tilt away from the GIA during dorsoventral centrifugation. Vertical OKN and ocular pursuit did not exhibit orientation toward the GIA in any condition. Static full-body roll tilts and centrifugation generating an equivalent interaural acceleration produced the same tilts in the horizontal OKN velocity before and after flight. Thus, the magnitude of tilt in OKN velocity was dependent on the magnitude of interaural linear acceleration, rather than the tilt of the GIA with regard to the head. These results favor a 'filter' model of spatial orientation in which orienting eye movements are proportional to the magnitude of low frequency interaural linear acceleration, rather than models that postulate an internal representation of gravity as the basis for spatial orientation.

An Integrative Neural Network for Detecting Inertial Motion and Head Orientation

The ability to navigate in the world and execute appropriate behavioral responses depends critically on the contribution of the vestibular system to the detection of motion and spatial orientation. A complicating factor is that otolith afferents equivalently encode inertial and gravitational accelerations. Recent studies have demonstrated that the brain can resolve this sensory ambiguity by combining signals from both the otoliths and semicircular canal sensors, although it remains unknown how the brain integrates these sensory contributions to perform the nonlinear vector computations required to accurately detect head movement in space. Here, we illustrate how a physiologically relevant, nonlinear integrative neural network could be used to perform the required computations for inertial motion detection along the interaural head axis. The proposed model not only can simulate recent behavioral observations, including a translational vestibuloocular reflex driven by the semicircular canals, but also accounts for several previously unexplained characteristics of central neural responses such as complex otolith–canal convergence patterns and the prevalence of dynamically processed otolith signals. A key model prediction, implied by the required computations for tilt–translation discrimination, is a coordinate transformation of canal signals from a head-fixed to a spatial reference frame. As a result, cell responses may reflect canal signal contributions that cannot be easily detected or distinguished from otolith signals. New experimental protocols are proposed to characterize these cells and identify their contributions to spatial motion estimation. The proposed theoretical framework makes an essential first link between the computations for inertial acceleration detection derived from the physical laws of motion and the neural response properties predicted in a physiologically realistic network implementation.

Evidence for interacting cortical control of vestibular function and spatial representation in man

The objective of this research was to determine the possible relation between deficits in spatial representation capability and vestibular function following cortical lesions. We thus investigated vestibulo-ocular behaviour in a group of 14 patients with unilateral cortical damage involving the occipito-temporo-parietal junction. Patients were divided in three sub-groups: (1) Group R+: five patients with right sided cortical lesions associated with a left hemi-neglect, (2) Group R-: four patients with right sided cortical lesions with no hemi-neglect and (3) Group L: five patients with left-sided cortical lesions. The patient groups were compared to a group of eight healthy age-matched subjects. The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) was tested in complete darkness by rotating the subject around the vertical axis by sinusoidal rotation at different frequencies, and by steps of acceleration or deceleration. The nystagmus slow phase velocity was measured and plotted as a function of the head velocity and the VOR parameters including gain, bias, time constant and phase were calculated. The cortical lesions induced a significant VOR asymmetry in terms of: a directional preponderance of the VOR gain to the contralesion side, only during sinusoidal rotation, and, in contrast, a VOR bias and a directional preponderance of the VOR time constant and of the nystagmus frequency to the side of the cortical lesion. These latter VOR deficits were the most significant in the R+ group, i.e. in right cortical lesions with hemi-neglect syndrome. These results demonstrate in man, the existence of a cortical influence on vestibular function related to the mechanisms of spatial representation.

Eye movements during multi-axis whole-body rotations

The semi-circular canals and the otolith organs both contribute to gaze stabilization during head movement. We investigated how these sensory signals interact when they provide conflicting information about head orientation in space. Human subjects were reoriented 90 degrees in pitch or roll during long-duration, constant-velocity rotation about the earth-vertical axis while we measured three-dimensional eye movements. After the reorientation, the otoliths correctly indicated the static orientation of the subject with respect to gravity, while the semicircular canals provided a strong signal of rotation. This rotation signal from the canals could only be consistent with a static orientation with respect to gravity if the rotation-axis indicated by the canals was exactly parallel to gravity. This was not true, so a cue-conflict existed. These conflicting stimuli elicited motion sickness and a complex tumbling sensation. Strong horizontal, vertical, and/or torsional eye movements were also induced, allowing us to study the influence of the conflict between the otoliths and the canals on all three eye-movement components. We found a shortening of the horizontal and vertical time constants of the decay of nystagmus and a trend for an increase in peak velocity following reorientation. The dumping of the velocity storage occurred regardless of whether eye velocity along that axis was compensatory to the head rotation or not. We found a trend for the axis of eye velocity to reorient to make the head-velocity signal from the canals consistent with the head-orientation signal from the otoliths, but this reorientation was small and only observed when subjects were tilted to upright. Previous models of canal-otolith interaction could not fully account for our data, particularly the decreased time constant of the decay of nystagmus. We present a model with a mechanism that reduces the velocity-storage component in the presence of a strong cue-conflict. Our study, supported by other experiments, also indicates that static otolith signals exhibit considerably smaller effects on eye movements in humans than in monkeys.

Gravity-specific adaptation of the angular vestibuloocular reflex: dependence on head orientation with regard to gravity

The gain of the vertical angular vestibuloocular reflex (aVOR) was adaptively altered by visual-vestibular mismatch during rotation about an interaural axis, using steps of velocity in three head orientations: upright, left-side down, and right-side down. Gains were decreased by rotating the animal and visual surround in the same direction and increased by visual and surround rotation in opposite directions. Gains were adapted in one head position (single-state adaptation) or decreased with one side down and increased with the other side down (dual-state adaptation). Animals were tested in darkness using sinusoidal rotation at 0.5 Hz about an interaural axis that was tilted from horizontal to vertical. They were also sinusoidally oscillated from 0.5 to 4 Hz about a spatial vertical axis in static tilt positions from yaw to pitch. After both single- and dual-state adaptation, gain changes were maximal when the monkeys were in the position in which the gain had been adapted, and the gain changes progressively declined as the head was tilted away from that position. We call this gravity-specific aVOR gain adaptation. The spatial distribution of the specific aVOR gain changes could be represented by a cosine function that was superimposed on a bias level, which we called gravity-independent gain adaptation. Maximal gravity-specific gain changes were produced by 2-4 h of adaptation for both single- and dual-state adaptations, and changes in gain were similar at all test frequencies. When adapted while upright, the magnitude and distribution of the gravity-specific adaptation was comparable to that when animals were adapted in side-down positions. Single-state adaptation also produced gain changes that were independent of head position re gravity particularly in association with gain reduction. There was no bias after dual-state adaptation. With this difference, fits to data obtained by altering the gain in separate sessions predicted the modulations in gain obtained from dual-state adaptations. These data show that the vertical aVOR gain changes dependent on head position with regard to gravity are continuous functions of head tilt, whose spatial phase depends on the position in which the gain was adapted. From their different characteristics, it is likely that gravity-specific and gravity-independent adaptive changes in gain are produced by separate neural processes. These data demonstrate that head orientation to gravity plays an important role in both orienting and tuning the gain of the vertical aVOR.

The nodulus and uvula: source of cerebellar control of spatial orientation of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex

The nodulus and rostral-ventral uvula of the vestibulo-cerebellum play a critical role in orienting eye velocity of the slow component of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (aVOR) to gravito-inertial acceleration (GIA). This is done by altering the time constants of "velocity storage" in the vestibular system and by generating "cross-coupled" eye velocities that shift the eye velocity vector from along the body yaw axis to the yaw axis in a spatial frame. In this report, we show that eye velocity generated through the aVOR by constant velocity centrifugation in the monkey orients to the GIA in space, regardless of the position of the head with respect to the axis of rotation. We also show that, after removal of the nodulus and rostral-ventral uvula, the spatial orientation of eye velocity to the GIA is lost and that eye velocity is then purely driven by the semicircular canals in a body frame of reference. These findings are further confirmation that these regions of the vestibulo-cerebellum control spatial orientation of the aVOR.

Compensatory and orienting eye movements induced by off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) in monkeys

Nystagmus induced by off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) about a head yaw axis is composed of a yaw bias velocity and modulations in eye position and velocity as the head changes orientation relative to gravity. The bias velocity is dependent on the tilt of the rotational axis relative to gravity and angular head velocity. For axis tilts <15 degrees, bias velocities increased monotonically with increases in the magnitude of the projected gravity vector onto the horizontal plane of the head. For tilts of 15-90 degrees, bias velocity was independent of tilt angle, increasing linearly as a function of head velocity with gains of 0.7-0.8, up to the saturation level of velocity storage. Asymmetries in OVAR bias velocity and asymmetries in the dominant time constant of the angular vestibuloocular reflex (aVOR) covaried and both were reduced by administration of baclofen, a GABA(B) agonist. Modulations in pitch and roll eye positions were in phase with nose-down and side-down head positions, respectively. Changes in roll eye position were produced mainly by slow movements, whereas vertical eye position changes were characterized by slow eye movements and saccades. Oscillations in vertical and roll eye velocities led their respective position changes by approximately 90 degrees, close to an ideal differentiation, suggesting that these modulations were due to activation of the orienting component of the linear vestibuloocular reflex (lVOR). The beating field of the horizontal nystagmus shifted the eyes 6.3 degrees /g toward gravity in side down position, similar to the deviations observed during static roll tilt (7.0 degrees /g). This demonstrates that the eyes also orient to gravity in yaw. Phases of horizontal eye velocity clustered ~180 degrees relative to the modulation in beating field and were not simply differentiations of changes in eye position. Contributions of orientating and compensatory components of the lVOR to the modulation of eye position and velocity were modeled using three components: a novel direct otolith-oculomotor orientation, orientation-based velocity modulation, and changes in velocity storage time constants with head position re gravity. Time constants were obtained from optokinetic after-nystagmus, a direct representation of velocity storage. When the orienting lVOR was combined with models of the compensatory lVOR and velocity estimator from sequential otolith activation to generate the bias component, the model accurately predicted eye position and velocity in three dimensions. These data support the postulates that OVAR generates compensatory eye velocity through activation of velocity storage and that oscillatory components arise predominantly through lVOR orientation mechanisms.

Spatial orientation of caloric nystagmus in semicircular canal-plugged monkeys

We studied caloric nystagmus before and after plugging all six semicircular canals to determine whether velocity storage contributed to the spatial orientation of caloric nystagmus. Monkeys were stimulated unilaterally with cold ( approximately 20 degrees C) water while upright, supine, prone, right-side down, and left-side down. The decline in the slow phase velocity vector was determined over the last 37% of the nystagmus, at a time when the response was largely due to activation of velocity storage. Before plugging, yaw components varied with the convective flow of endolymph in the lateral canals in all head orientations. Plugging blocked endolymph flow, eliminating convection currents. Despite this, caloric nystagmus was readily elicited, but the horizontal component was always toward the stimulated (ipsilateral) side, regardless of head position relative to gravity. When upright, the slow phase velocity vector was close to the yaw and spatial vertical axes. Roll components became stronger in supine and prone positions, and vertical components were enhanced in side down positions. In each case, this brought the velocity vectors toward alignment with the spatial vertical. Consistent with principles governing the orientation of velocity storage, when the yaw component of the velocity vector was positive, the cross-coupled pitch or roll components brought the vector upward in space. Conversely, when yaw eye velocity vector was downward in the head coordinate frame, i.e., negative, pitch and roll were downward in space. The data could not be modeled simply by a reduction in activity in the ipsilateral vestibular nerve, which would direct the velocity vector along the roll direction. Since there is no cross coupling from roll to yaw, velocity storage alone could not rotate the vector to fit the data. We postulated, therefore, that cooling had caused contraction of the endolymph in the plugged canals. This contraction would deflect the cupula toward the plug, simulating ampullofugal flow of endolymph. Inhibition and excitation induced by such cupula deflection fit the data well in the upright position but not in lateral or prone/supine conditions. Data fits in these positions required the addition of a spatially orientated, velocity storage component. We conclude, therefore, that three factors produce cold caloric nystagmus after canal plugging: inhibition of activity in ampullary nerves, contraction of endolymph in the stimulated canals, and orientation of eye velocity to gravity through velocity storage. Although the response to convection currents dominates the normal response to caloric stimulation, velocity storage probably also contributes to the orientation of eye velocity.

Spatial orientation of caloric nystagmus

The spatial orientation of the slow-phase eye velocity of caloric nystagmus was investigated in cynomolgus monkeys after all six semicircular canals had been plugged. Normal animals generate responses that have dominant convective components produced by movement of the endolymph in the lateral canal toward or away from gravity. As a result, the direction of horizontal slow-phase velocity induced by cold-water irrigation changes direction with changes in head position with regard to gravity. Plugging produced a dense overgrowth of bone that blocked the flow of endolymph, but the end organs were intact. Robust caloric nystagmus was elicited after recovery, but the horizontal (yaw) component was now always toward the stimulated (ipsilateral) side, regardless of head position re gravity. The induced caloric nystagmus had strong spatial orientation properties after canal plugging. With animals upright, the three-dimensional velocity vector of the caloric nystagmus was close to the yaw axis with small vertical and roll components. Roll components became stronger in supine and prone positions and vertical components were enhanced in the right- and left-side down positions. In each instance, the addition of the roll and vertical components moved the velocity vector of the nystagmus closer to the spatial vertical. Modeling supported the postulate that the caloric nystagmus after canal plugging is influenced by three factors: (1) a reduction in neural activity in the ampullary nerves on the stimulated side due to cooling of the nerves; (2) contraction of the endolymph in the closed space between the cupula and the plug due to cooling, which resulted in deflection of the cupula and hair cells toward the plug (ampullofugal deflection); and (3) alignment of eye velocity to gravity due to the orientation properties of velocity storage. Although convection is the most prominent factor in producing caloric responses in the normal state, our results suggest that alteration of nerve activity due to thermal effects, endolymph contraction or expansion, and velocity storage are also likely to contribute to the total response.

Ultrastructural features of non-commissural GABAergic neurons in the medial vestibular nucleus of the monkey

The ultrastructural characteristics of non-degenerating GABAergic neurons in rostrolateral medial vestibular nucleus were identified in monkeys following midline transection of vestibular commissural fibers. In the previous papers, we reported that most degenerated cells and terminals in this tissue were located in rostrolateral medial vestibular nucleus, and that many of these neurons were GABA-immunoreactive. In the present study, we examined the ultrastructural features of the remaining neuronal elements in this medial vestibular nucleus region, in order to identify and characterize the GABAergic cells that are not directly involved in the vestibular commissural pathway related to the velocity storage mechanism. Such cells are primarily small, with centrally-placed nuclei. Axosomatic synapses are concentrated on polar regions of the somata. The proximal dendrites of GABAergic cells are surrounded by boutons, although distal dendrites receive only occasional synaptic contacts. Two types of non-degenerated GABAergic boutons are distinguished. Type A terminals are large, with very densely-packed spherical synaptic vesicles and clusters of large, irregularly-shaped mitochondria with wide matrix spaces. Such boutons form symmetric synapses, primarily with small GABAergic and non-GABAergic dendrites. Type B terminals are smaller and contain a moderate density of round/pleomorphic vesicles, numerous small round or tubular mitochondria, cisterns and vacuoles. These boutons serve both pre- and postsynaptic roles in symmetric contacts with non-GABAergic axon terminals. On the basis of ultrastructural observations of immunostained tissue, we conclude that at least two types of GABAergic neurons are present in the rostrolateral portion of the monkey medial vestibular nucleus: neurons related to the velocity storage pathway, and a class of vestibular interneurons. A multiplicity of GABAergic bouton types are also observed, and categorized on the basis of subcellular morphology. We hypothesize that "Type A" boutons correspond to Purkinje cell afferents in rostrolateral medial vestibular nucleus, "Type B" terminals represent the axons of GABAergic medial vestibular nucleus interneurons, and "Type C" boutons take origin from vestibular commissural neurons of the velocity storage pathway.

Ultrastructure of vestibular commissural neurons related to velocity storage in the monkey

The angular vestibulo-ocular reflex maintains gaze during head movements. It is thought to be mediated by two components: direct and velocity storage pathways. The direct angular vestibulo-ocular reflex is conveyed by a three neuron chain from the labyrinth to the ocular motoneurons. The indirect pathway involves a more complex neural network that utilizes a portion of the vestibular commissure. The purpose of the present study was to identify the ultrastructural characteristics of commissural neurons in the medial vestibular nucleus that are related to the velocity storage component of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex. Ultrastructural studies of degenerating medial vestibular nucleus neurons were conducted in monkeys following midline section of rostral medullary commissural fibers with subsequent behavioral testing. After this lesion, oculomotor and vestibular functions attributable to velocity storage were abolished, whereas the direct angular vestibulo-ocular reflex pathway remained intact. Since this damage was functionally discrete, degenerating neurons were interpreted as potential participants in the velocity storage network. Ultrastructural observations indicate that commissural neurons related to velocity storage are small and medium sized cells having large nuclei with deep indentations and relatively little cytoplasm, which are located in the lateral crescents of rostral medial vestibular nucleus. The morphology of degenerating dendritic profiles varied. Some contained numerous round or tubular mitochondria in a pale cytoplasmic matrix with few other organelles, while others had few mitochondria but many cisterns and vacuoles in dense granular cytoplasm. The commissural nature of these cells was further suggested by the presence of two different types of degenerating axon terminals in the rostral medial vestibular nucleus: those with a moderate density of large spherical synaptic vesicles, and those with pleomorphic, primarily ellipsoid synaptic vesicles. The recognition of two types of degenerating terminals further supports our interpretation that at least two morphological types of commissural neurons participate in the velocity storage network. The degenerating boutons formed contacts with a variety of postsynaptic partners. In particular, synapses were observed between degenerating boutons and non-degenerating dendrites, and between intact terminals and degenerating dendrites. However, degenerating pre- and postsynaptic elements were rarely observed in direct contact, suggesting that additional neurons are interposed in the indirect pathway commissural system. On the basis of these ultrastructural observations, it is concluded that vestibular commissural neurons involved in the mediation of velocity storage have distinguishing ultrastructural features and synaptology, that are different from those of direct pathway neurons.

The ultrastructure of GABA-immunoreactive vestibular commissural neurons related to velocity storage in the monkey

The purpose of the present study was to visualize the synaptic interactions of GABAergic neurons involved in the mediation of velocity storage. In the previous report, ultrastructural studies of degenerating neurons were conducted following midline section of rostral medullary commissural fibers with subsequent behavioral testing. The midline lesion caused functionally discrete damage to the velocity storage component, but not to the direct pathway, of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex, and the degenerating neurons were interpreted as potential participants in the velocity storage network. We concluded that at least some of the commissural axons mediating velocity storage originate from clusters of neurons in the lateral crescents of the rostral medial vestibular nucleus. In the present report, immunocytochemical evidence is presented that many vestibular commissural neurons, putatively involved in mediating velocity storage, are GABAergic. These cells have large nuclei, small round or narrow tubular mitochondria, occasional cisterns and vacuoles, but few other organelles. Their axons are thinly-myelinated, and terminate in boutons containing mitochondria of similar ultrastructural appearance and a moderate density of round/pleomorphic synaptic vesicles. Such terminals often form axoaxonic synapses, and less frequently axodendritic contacts, with non-GABAergic elements. On the basis of the present results, we conclude that a portion of the commissural neurons of the velocity storage pathway is GABAergic. The observation of GABAergic axoaxonic synapses in this pathway is interpreted as a structural basis for presynaptic inhibition of medial vestibular nucleus circuits by velocity storage-related commissural neurons. Conversely, substantial ultrastructural evidence for postsynaptic inhibition of non-GABAergic commissural cells argues for a dual role for GABAergic terminals mediating velocity storage: presynaptic inhibition of non-GABAergic vestibular cells by GABAergic velocity storage commissural axons, and postsynaptic inhibition of non-GABAergic velocity storage cells by GABAergic axons. Both pre- and postsynaptic inhibitory arrangements could provide the morphologic basis for disinhibitory activation of the velocity storage network within local neuronal circuits.

Control of spatial orientation of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex by the nodulus and uvula of the vestibulocerebellum

Eye velocity produced by the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (aVOR) tends to align with the summed vector of gravity and other linear accelerations [gravito-inertial acceleration (GIA)]. Defined as "spatial orientation of the aVOR," we propose that it is controlled by the nodulus and uvula of the vestibulocerebellum. Here, electrical stimulation, injections of the GABAA agonist, muscimol, and single-cell recordings were utilized to investigate this spatial orientation. Stimulation, injection, and recording sites in the nodulus were determined in vivo by MRI and verified in histological sections. MRI proved to be a sensitive, reliable way to localize electrode placements. Electrical stimulation at sites in the nodulus and sublobule d of the uvula produced nystagmus whose slow-phase eye-velocity vectors were either head centric or spatially invariant. When head centric, the eye velocity vector remained within +/- 45 degrees of the vector obtained with the animal upright, regardless of head position with respect to gravity. When spatially oriented, the vector remained relatively constant in space in one on-side position, with respect to the vector determined with the animal upright. A majority of induced movements from the nodulus were spatially oriented. Spatially oriented movements were generally followed by after-nystagmus, which had the characteristics of optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN), including orientation to the GIA. After muscimol injections, horizontal-to-vertical cross-coupling was lost or reduced during OKAN in tilted positions. This supports the hypothesis that the nodulus mediates yaw-to-vertical or roll cross-coupling. The injections also shortened the yaw-axis time constant and produced contralateral horizontal spontaneous nystagmus, whose velocity varied as a function of head position with regard to gravity. Nodulus units were tested with static head tilt, sinusoidal oscillation around a spatial horizontal axis with the head in different orientations relative to the pitching plane, and off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR). The direction of the response vectors of the otolith-recipient units in the nodulus, determined from static and/or dynamic head tilts, were confirmed by OVAR. These vector directions lay close to the planes of the vertical canals in 7/10 units; many units also had convergent input from the vertical canals. It is postulated that the orientation properties of the aVOR result from a transfer of otolith input regarding head tilt along canal planes to canal-related zones of the nodulus. In turn, Purkinje cells in these zones project to vestibular nuclei neurons to control eye velocity around axes normal to these same canal planes.

Optokinetic and vestibular stimulation determines the spatial orientation of negative optokinetic afternystagmus in the rabbit

Prolonged binocular optokinetic stimulation (OKS) in the rabbit induces a high-velocity negative optokinetic afternystagmus (OKAN II) that persists for several hours. We have taken advantage of this uniform nystagmus to study how changes in static head orientation in the pitch plane might influence the orientation of the nystagmus. After horizontal OKS, the rotation axis of the OKAN II remained almost constant in space as it was kept aligned with the gravity vector when the head was pitched by as much as 80 degrees up and 35 degrees down. Moreover, during reorientation, slow-phase eye velocity decreased according to the head pitch angle. Thereafter, we analyzed the space orientation of OKAN II after optokinetic stimulation during which the head and/or the OKS were pitched upward and downward. The rotation axis of OKAN II did not remain aligned with an earth vertical axis nor a head vertical axis, but it tended to be aligned with that of the OKS respace. The slow-phase eye velocity of OKAN II was also affected by the head pitch angle during OKS, because maximal OKAN II velocity occurred at the same head pitch angle as that during optokinetic stimulation. We suggest that OKAN II is coded in gravity-centered rather than in head-centered coordinates, but that this coordinate system may be influenced by optokinetic and vestibular stimulation. Moreover, the velocity attenuation of OKAN II seems to depend on the mismatch between the space-centered nystagmus rotation axis orientation and that of the "remembered" head-centered optokinetic pathway activated by OKS.

Dynamics and kinematics of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex in monkey: effects of canal plugging

Dynamics and kinematics of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex in monkey: effects of canal plugging. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 3077-3099, 1998. Horizontal and roll components of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (aVOR) were elicited by sinusoidal rotation at frequencies from 0.2 Hz (60 degrees/s) to 4.0 Hz ( approximately 6 degrees/s) in cynomolgus monkeys. Animals had both lateral canals plugged (VC, vertical canals intact), both lateral canals and one pair of the vertical canals plugged (RALP, right anterior and left posterior canals intact; LARP, left anterior and right posterior canal intact), or all six semicircular canal plugged (NC, no canals). In normal animals, horizontal and roll eye velocity was in phase with head velocity and peak horizontal and roll gains were approximately 0.8 and 0.6 in upright and 90 degrees pitch, respectively. NC animals had small aVOR gains at 0.2 Hz, and the temporal phases were shifted approximately 90 degrees toward acceleration. As the frequency increased to 4 Hz, aVOR temporal gains and phases tended to normalize. Findings were similar for the LARP, RALP, and VC animals when they were rotated in the planes of the plugged canals. That is, they tended to normalize at higher frequencies. A model was developed incorporating the geometric organization of the canals and first order canal-endolymph dynamics. Canal plugging was modeled as an alteration in the low frequency 3-db roll-off and corresponding dominant time constant. The shift in the low-frequency 3-dB roll-off was seen in the temporal responses as a phase lead of the aVOR toward acceleration at higher frequencies. The phase shifted toward stimulus velocity as the frequency increased toward 4.0 Hz. By incorporating a dynamic model of the canals into the three-dimensional canal system, the spatial responses were predicted at all frequencies. Animals were also stimulated with steps of velocity in planes parallel to the plugged lateral canals. This induced a response with a short time constant and low peak velocity in each monkey. Gains were normalized for step rotation with respect to time constant as (steady state eye velocity)/(stimulus acceleration x time constant). Using this procedure, the gains were the same in canal plugged as in normal animals and corresponded to gains obtained in the frequency analysis. The study suggests that canal plugging does not block the afferent response to rotation, it merely shifts the dynamic response to higher frequencies.

Control of spatial orientation of the angular vestibuloocular reflex by the nodulus and uvula

Spatial orientation of the angular vestibuloocular reflex (aVOR) was studied in rhesus monkeys after complete and partial ablation of the nodulus and ventral uvula. Horizontal, vertical, and torsional components of slow phases of nystagmus were analyzed to determine the axes of eye rotation, the time constants (Tcs) of velocity storage, and its orientation vectors. The gravito-inertial acceleration vector (GIA) was tilted relative to the head during optokinetic afternystagmus (OKAN), centrifugation, and reorientation of the head during postrotatory nystagmus. When the GIA was tilted relative to the head in normal animals, horizontal Tcs decreased, vertical and/or roll time constants (Tc(vert/roll)) lengthened according to the orientation of the GIA, and vertical and/or roll eye velocity components appeared (cross-coupling). This shifted the axis of eye rotation toward alignment with the tilted GIA. Horizontal and vertical/roll Tcs varied inversely, with T(chor) being longest and T(cvert/roll) shortest when monkeys were upright, and the reverse when stimuli were around the vertical or roll axes. Vertical or roll Tcs were longest when the axes of eye rotation were aligned with the spatial vertical, respectively. After complete nodulo-uvulectomy, T(chor) became longer, and periodic alternating nystagmus (PAN) developed in darkness. T(chor) could not be shortened in any of paradigms tested. In addition, yaw-to-vertical/roll cross-coupling was lost, and the axes of eye rotation remained fixed during nystagmus, regardless of the tilt of the GIA with respect to the head. After central portions of the nodulus and uvula were ablated, leaving lateral portions of the nodulus intact, yaw-to-vertical/roll cross-coupling and control of Tc(vert/roll) was lost or greatly reduced. However, control of Tchor was maintained, and T(chor) continued to vary as a function of the tilted GIA. Despite this, the eye velocity vector remained aligned with the head during yaw axis stimulation after partial nodulo-uvulectomy, regardless of GIA orientation to the head. The data were related to a three-dimensional model of the aVOR, which simulated the experimental results. The model provides a basis for understanding how the nodulus and uvula control processing within the vestibular nuclei responsible for spatial orientation of the aVOR. We conclude that the three-dimensional dynamics of the velocity storage system are determined in the nodulus and ventral uvula. We propose that the horizontal and vertical/roll Tcs are separately controlled in the nodulus and uvula with the dynamic characteristics of vertical/roll components modulated in central portions and the horizontal components laterally, presumably in a semicircular canal-based coordinate frame.