Uvula-nodulus and gravity direction (a study on vertical optokinetic-oculomotor functions)

Delineating function and connectivity of optokinetic hubs in the cerebellum and the brainstem

Optokinetic eye movements are crucial for keeping a stable image on the retina during movements of the head. These eye movements can be differentiated into a cortically generated response (optokinetic look nystagmus) and the highly reflexive optokinetic stare nystagmus, which is controlled by circuits in the brainstem and cerebellum. The contributions of these infratentorial networks and their functional connectivity with the cortical eye fields are still poorly understood in humans. To map ocular motor centres in the cerebellum and brainstem, we studied stare nystagmus using small-field optokinetic stimuli in the horizontal and vertical directions in 22 healthy subjects. We were able to differentiate ocular motor areas of the pontine brainstem and midbrain in vivo for the first time. Direction and velocity-dependent activations were found in the pontine brainstem (nucleus reticularis, tegmenti pontis, and paramedian pontine reticular formation), the uvula, flocculus, and cerebellar tonsils. The ocular motor vermis, on the other hand, responded to constant and accelerating velocity stimulation. Moreover, deactivation patterns depict a governing role for the cerebellar tonsils in ocular motor control. Functional connectivity results of these hubs reveal the close integration of cortico-cerebellar ocular motor and vestibular networks in humans. Adding to the cortical concept of a right-hemispheric predominance for visual-spatial processing, we found a complementary left-sided cerebellar dominance for our ocular motor task. A deeper understanding of the role of the cerebellum and especially the cerebellar tonsils for eye movement control in a clinical context seems vitally important and is now feasible with functional neuroimaging.

Visuomotor cerebellum in human and nonhuman primates

In this paper, we will review the anatomical components of the visuomotor cerebellum in human and, where possible, in non-human primates and discuss their function in relation to those of extracerebellar visuomotor regions with which they are connected. The floccular lobe, the dorsal paraflocculus, the oculomotor vermis, the uvula-nodulus, and the ansiform lobule are more or less independent components of the visuomotor cerebellum that are involved in different corticocerebellar and/or brain stem olivocerebellar loops. The floccular lobe and the oculomotor vermis share different mossy fiber inputs from the brain stem; the dorsal paraflocculus and the ansiform lobule receive corticopontine mossy fibers from postrolandic visual areas and the frontal eye fields, respectively. Of the visuomotor functions of the cerebellum, the vestibulo-ocular reflex is controlled by the floccular lobe; saccadic eye movements are controlled by the oculomotor vermis and ansiform lobule, while control of smooth pursuit involves all these cerebellar visuomotor regions. Functional imaging studies in humans further emphasize cerebellar involvement in visual reflexive eye movements and are discussed.

Spatial symmetries in vestibular projections to the uvula-nodulus

The discharge of secondary vestibular neurons relays the activity of the vestibular endorgans, occasioned by movements in three-dimensional physical space. At a slightly higher level of analysis, the discharge of each secondary vestibular neuron participates in a multifiber projection or pathway from primary afferents via the secondary neurons to another neuronal population. The logical organization of this projection determines whether characteristics of physical space are retained or lost. The logical structure of physical space is standardly expressed in terms of the mathematics of group theory. The logical organization of a projection can be compared to that of physical space by evaluating its symmetry group. The direct projection from the semicircular canal nerves via the vestibular nuclei to neck motor neurons has a full three-dimensional symmetry group, allowing it to maintain a three-dimensional coordinate frame. However, a projection may embed only a subgroup of the symmetry group of physical space, which incompletely mirrors the properties of physical space. The major visual and vestibular projections in the rabbit via the inferior olive to the uvula-nodulus carry three degrees of freedom-rotations about one vertical and two horizontal axes-but do not have full three dimensional symmetry. Instead, the vestibulo-olivo-nodular projection has symmetries corresponding to a product of two-dimensional vestibular and one-dimensional optokinetic spaces. This combination of projection symmetries provides the foundation for distinguishing horizontal from vertical rotations within a three dimensional space. In this study, we evaluate the symmetry group given by the physiological organization of the vestibulo-olivo-nodular projection. Although it acts on the same sets of elements and mirrors the rotations that occur in physical space, the physiological transformation group is distinct from the spatial group. We identify symmetries as products of physiological and spatial transformations. The symmetry group shapes the information the projection conveys to the uvula-nodulus; this shaping may depend on a physiological choice of generators, in the same way that function depends on the physiological choice of coordinates. We discuss the implications of the symmetry group for uvula-nodulus function, evolution, and functions of the vestibular system in general.