Furman, J. M. | Search NASA

NASA NTRS1992

Off-vertical axis rotation: a test of the otolith-ocular reflex

The vestibulo-ocular reflex was studied via off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) in the dark. The axis of the turntable could be tilted from vertical by up to 30 degrees. Eye movements were measured with electro-oculography. Results from healthy asymptomatic subjects indicated that 1) a reliable otolith-induced response could be obtained during constant velocity OVAR using a velocity of 60 degrees/s with a tilt of 30 degrees; 2) constant velocity OVAR rotation was nausea-producing and, especially if subjects were rotated in the dark about an earth-vertical axis prior to being tilted, disorienting; and 3) sinusoidal OVAR produced minimal nausea; the eye movement response appeared to be the result of a combination of semicircular canal and otolith components. We conclude that OVAR has the potential of becoming a useful method for clinically assessing both the otolith-ocular reflex and semicircular canal-otolith interaction.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗

NASA NTRS1992

Plasticity of the human otolith-ocular reflex

The eye movement response to earth vertical axis rotation in the dark, a semicircular canal stimulus, can be altered by prior exposure to combined visual-vestibular stimuli. Such plasticity of the vestibulo-ocular reflex has not been described for earth horizontal axis rotation, a dynamic otolith stimulus. Twenty normal human subjects underwent one of two types of adaptation paradigms designed either to attenuate or enhance the gain of the semicircular canal-ocular reflex prior to undergoing otolith-ocular reflex testing with horizontal axis rotation. The adaptation paradigm paired a 0.2 Hz sinusoidal rotation about a vertical axis with a 0.2 Hz optokinetic stripe pattern that was deliberately mismatched in peak velocity. Pre- and post-adaptation horizontal axis rotations were at 60 degrees/s in the dark and produced a modulation in the slow component velocity of nystagmus having a frequency of 0.17 Hz due to putative stimulation of the otolith organs. Results showed that the magnitude of this modulation component response was altered in a manner similar to the alteration in semicircular canal-ocular responses. These results suggest that physiologic alteration of the vestibulo-ocular reflex using deliberately mismatched visual and semicircular canal stimuli induces changes in both canal-ocular and otolith-ocular responses. We postulate, therefore, that central nervous system pathways responsible for controlling the gains of canal-ocular and otolith-ocular reflexes are shared.

Non-NASA Center↗