Succinylcholine activation of human horizontal eye muscles

Extraocular Muscles Tension, Tonus, and Proprioception in Infantile Strabismus: Role of the Oculomotor System in the Pathogenesis of Infantile Strabismus-Review of the Literature

The role played by the extraocular muscles (EOMs) in the etiology of concomitant infantile strabismus is still debated and it has not yet definitively established if the sensory anomalies in concomitant strabismus are a consequence or a primary cause of the deviation. The commonest theory supposes that most strabismus results from abnormal innervation of the EOMs, but the cause of this dysfunction and its origin, whether central or peripheral, are still unknown. The interaction between sensory factors and innervational factors, that is, esotonus, accommodation, convergence, divergence, and vestibular reflexes in visually immature infants with family predisposition, is suspected to create conditions that prevent binocular alignment from stabilizing and strengthening. Some role in the onset of fixation instability and infantile strabismus could be played by the feedback control of eye movements and by dysfunction of eye muscle proprioception during the critical period of development of the visual sensory system. A possible role in the onset, maintenance, or worsening of the deviation of abnormalities of muscle force which have their clinical equivalent in eye muscle overaction and underaction has been investigated under either isometric or isotonic conditions, and in essence no significant anomalies of muscle force have been found in concomitant strabismus.

Mechanics of mouse ocular motor plant quantified by optogenetic techniques

Rigorous descriptions of ocular motor mechanics are often needed for models of ocular motor circuits. The mouse has become an important tool for ocular motor studies, yet most mechanical data come from larger species. Recordings of mouse abducens neurons indicate the mouse mechanics share basic viscoelastic properties with larger species but have considerably longer time constants. Time constants can also be extracted from the rate at which the eye re-centers when released from an eccentric position. The displacement can be accomplished by electrically stimulating ocular motor nuclei, but electrical stimulation may also activate nearby ocular motor circuitry. We achieved specific activation of abducens motoneurons through photostimulation in transgenic mice expressing channelrhodopsin in cholinergic neurons. Histology confirmed strong channelrhodopsin expression in the abducens nucleus with relatively little expression in nearby ocular motor structures. Stimulation was delivered as 20- to 1,000-ms pulses and 40-Hz trains. Relaxations were modeled best by a two-element viscoelastic system. Time constants were sensitive to stimulus duration. Analysis of isometric relaxation of isolated mouse extraocular muscles suggest the dependence is attributable to noninstantaneous decay of active forces in non-twitch fibers following stimulus offset. Time constants were several times longer than those obtained in primates, confirming that the mouse ocular motor mechanics are relatively sluggish. Finally, we explored the effects of 0.1- to 20-Hz sinusoidal photostimuli and demonstrated their potential usefulness in characterizing ocular motor mechanics, although this application will require further data on the temporal relationship between photostimulation and neuronal firing in extraocular motoneurons.