Absence of vestibular habituation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in the vertical plane in the cat

Short-term habituation of eye-movement responses induced by galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) in the alert guinea pig

In a recent study, we showed that primary afferent neurons innervating all vestibular end organs were sensitive to galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) in guinea pigs. In order to determine the three-dimensional character of eye movements induced by GVS, changes in eye position were recorded using digital video oculography during delivery of bilateral GVS ranging in intensity between 20 and 80 microA. Pulses were delivered in repetitive trains in order to also ascertain the involvement of vestibular habituation. At low intensities of GVS (up to 40 microA), maintained changes in eye position were induced toward the anode and away from the cathode. These eye movements were predominantly vertical with some horizontal eye movement and very little or no torsion. At higher intensities of GVS (>40 microA), horizontal nystagmus was initially observed, as well as an overall deviation of the beating field toward the anode. Nystagmus was found to habituate rapidly over successive presentations of GVS, whereas the tonic deviation of the eye remained consistent without any detectable habituation. The direction of eye movements induced by GVS was similar to that observed in humans during trans-mastoidal GVS, and the threshold differences between tonic and phasic components for GVS were also similar to previous human GVS studies. The observed habituation appears to be more specific to the phasic VOR component in quadrupedal animals such as guinea pigs, and this may reflect a considerable emphasis placed on otolithic stimulation in these animals during complex locomotor activities.

Retention of habituation of vestibulo-ocular reflex and sensation of rotation in humans

In humans, habituation of vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) by repeated caloric or rotational stimulation has been well documented. However, less attention has been directed to the effect of habituation on the sensation of self-rotation and little is known about the retention duration of vestibular habituation. To investigate these characteristics, subjects were exposed to ten sessions of angular velocity steps in yaw, with a chair rotating either alternatively in both CW and CCW directions (bidirectional protocol) or always in the same direction (unidirectional protocol), i.e., CW or CCW. The retention of habituation of VOR and sensation of rotation induced by both protocols was studied for a period up to 8 months following the end of the habituation protocols. There was a progressive decline in the VOR peak slow phase velocity and time constant throughout the sessions during both protocols. These parameters then followed an exponential recovery with a time constant of about 1 month. The duration of the sensation of rotation also habituated during repeated angular velocity steps, but it was shorter for both directions of stimulation, including after the unidirectional protocol. Sinusoidal VOR gain was not affected by vestibular habituation to velocity steps, but sinusoidal VOR phase showed an increase in phase lead at 0.02 and 0.04 Hz, which also returned to baseline values within about 1 month. We conclude that vestibular habituation is a long-lasting phenomenon. These results may be helpful for designing and scheduling the protocols for drug studies using crossover design, rehabilitation of balance disorder patients, and for the application of intermittent artificial gravity during space missions.

Labyrinthine lesions and motion sickness susceptibility

The angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (aVOR) has a fast pathway, which mediates compensatory eye movements, and a slow (velocity storage) pathway, which determines its low frequency characteristics and orients eye velocity toward gravity. We have proposed that motion sickness is generated through velocity storage, when its orientation vector, which lies close to the gravitational vertical, is misaligned with eye velocity during head motion. The duration of the misalignment, determined by the dominant time constant of velocity storage, causes the buildup of motion sickness. To test this hypothesis, we studied bilateral labyrinthine-defective subjects with short vestibular time constants but normal aVOR gains for their motion sickness susceptibility. Time constants and gains were taken from rotational responses. Motion sickness was generated by rolling the head while rotating, and susceptibility was assessed by the number of head movements made before reaching intolerable levels of nausea. More head movements signified lower motion sickness susceptibility. Labyrinthine-defective subjects made more head movements on their first exposure to roll while rotating than normals (39.8 +/- 7.2 vs 13.7 +/- 5.5; P < 0.0001). Normals were tested eight times, which habituated their time constants and reduced their motion sickness susceptibility. Combining data from all subjects, there was a strong inverse relationship between time constants and number of head movements (r = 0.94), but none between motion sickness susceptibility and aVOR gains. This provides further evidence that motion sickness is generated through velocity storage, not the direct pathway, and suggests that motion sickness susceptibility can be reduced by reducing the aVOR time constant.

Habituation of horizontal nystagmus of the eyes in pigeons in conditions of alternating central and eccentric rotations

Intact pigeons (n=19) were rotated in the dark in the horizontal plane in different orientations relative to the axis of rotation. In central (evoking habituation) rotations, the animal's head was located on the axis of rotation; in eccentric rotations, the animal's head was 0.6 m from the axis of rotation. Pigeons were subjected to series of alternating central and eccentric rotations; rotation directions were also alternated. Series consisted of 2-5 rotation using a trapezoidal program. Each stimulus evoking habituation was used no more than 14 times during the experiment. Eccentric rotations were found not to prevent the gradual decrease in the peak rates of the slow components of primary nystagmus occurring on the transition from one series of central rotations to another in 17 individuals (group 1); these were increased in two individuals (group 2). Group 1 showed direct relationships between changes in this measure of primary nystagmus, changes in the duration of nystagmus, and changes in the peak rates of secondary nystagmus. Modifications of nystagmus within series varied. When two identical stimuli did not follow immediately one after the other, the second stimulus induced the same changes in nystagmus as observed in the individual in the first and next series of central rotations. If two identical stimuli followed one immediately after the other, the second stimulus in the pair often induced increases in the peak rates of primary and secondary nystagmus, along with increases in the time taken to reach the peak rate of primary nystagmus. These changes were non-random at a probability of >95%.

Eye instability in the rabbit induced by vestibular stimulation in the vertical plane

OBJECTIVE

Sinusoidal vestibular stimulation in the horizontal plane induces periodic eye instability in the intact rabbit and the hypothesis of an intrinsically unstable velocity storage mechanism has been conceived. The present research examined the stability of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) in the vertical plane, considering that the time constant values of vertical and horizontal VORs differ and that separate regions of the vestibulo-cerebellum affect the horizontal and vertical slow VOR components differently.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Normal pigmented rabbits were sinusoidally oscillated in the dark about their vertical and longitudinal axes to evoke horizontal and vertical eye responses.

RESULTS

Frequency and peak-to-peak amplitude stimulation parameters ranged from 0.1 to 0.8 Hz and from 5 degrees to 20 degrees, respectively. During horizontal VOR, periodic alternating drift (PAD) was superimposed on the ocular response, and both peak velocity and period were directly correlated with stimulation amplitude. Vestibular stimulation in the vertical plane induced PAD: the period of vertical PAD was shorter and the amplitude smaller than the corresponding horizontal PAD values. A further difference in vertical PAD occurred in the lack of modulation of period and peak velocity by the stimulus amplitude.

CONCLUSION

These results support the hypothesis of different instabilities of the velocity storage mechanism in the vertical and horizontal planes, possibly due to separate sensory-motor systems sub-serving the vertical and horizontal VORs.

Learning in the oculomotor system: from molecules to behavior

A combination of system-level and cellular-molecular approaches is moving studies of oculomotor learning rapidly toward the goal of linking synaptic plasticity at specific sites in oculomotor circuits with changes in the signal-processing functions of those circuits, and, ultimately, with changes in eye movement behavior. Recent studies of saccadic adaptation illustrate how careful behavioral analysis can provide constraints on the neural loci of plasticity. Studies of vestibulo-ocular adaptation are beginning to examine the molecular pathways contributing to this form of cerebellum-dependent learning.