The cerebellovestibular interaction in the cat's vestibular nuclei neurons
Postsynaptic effects of vestibular and cerebellar impulses in vestibular nuclei neurons of cat
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Postsynaptic effects of vestibular and cerebellar impulses in vestibular nuclei neurons of cat
Second-order vestibular neuron activity during deep phase of sleep due to extralabyrinthine inputs to vestibular nuclei
The contribution of the vestibular system to motion sickness experience is studied by means of an attempt to determine the relationship between five subjective tests of vestibular function and reports of motion sickness experiences by pilots and nonpilots. The experimental procedure is described and the obtained results are discussed.
An experimental technique was developed which facilitated the formulation of a quantitative model describing vestibular detection of body sway motion in a postural response mode. All cues, except vestibular ones, which gave a subject an indication that he was beginning to sway, were eliminated using a specially designed two-degree-of-freedom platform; body sway was then induced and resulting compensatory responses at the ankle joints measured. Hybrid simulation compared the experimental results with models of the semicircular canals and utricular otolith receptors. Dynamic characteristics of the resulting canal model compared closely with characteristics of models which describe eye movement and subjective responses to body rotational motions. The average threshold level, in the postural response mode, however, was considerably lower. Analysis indicated that the otoliths probably play no role in the initial detection of body sway motion.
The chronic 2g centrifuge was constructed for testing weightlessness effects on development of vestibular apparatus and ocular nystagmus in the rat. Both the stationary and rotating rail tests were performed. A physiological review is presented on vestibular apparatus, along with a system analysis. Time constants and input threshold level of the system are also considered.
Vestibular problems of manned space flight are investigated for weightlessness and reduced gravity conditions with emphasis on space station development. Intensive morphological studies on the vestibular system and its central nervous system connections are included.
Vestibular side effects are discussed with the aid of a conceptual framework based on an analysis of vestibular input-output relations. These side effects tend to fall into two main categories: (1) Reflex phenomena, and (2) motion sickness, a delayed epiphenomenon. Although the symptomatology of motion sickness is similar wherever experienced, both the eliciting stimuli and the opportunity to adapt may differ in different motion environments. These differences not only are exemplified when motion sickness is compared in a weightless and in a rotating environment, but they also point to important differences in the problem of preventing (or treating) motion sickness in these two very different environments.
Five owls were given vestibular examinations, and two of them were sacrificed to provide serial histological sections of the temporal bones. The owls exhibited a curious variability in the postrotatory head nystagmus following abrupt deceleration; sometimes a brisk nystagnus with direction opposite to that appropriate to the stimulus would occur promptly after deceleration. It was found also that owls can exhibit a remarkable head stability during angular movement of the body about any axis passing through the skull. The vestibular apparatus in the owl is larger than in man, and a prominent crista neglecta is present. The tectorial membrane, the cupula, and the otolithic membranes of the utricle, saccule, and lagena are all attached to surfaces in addition to the surfaces hearing hair cells. These attachments are very substantial in the utricular otolithic membrane and in the cupula.
The human vestibular function was studied by the combined approach of advanced measurement and mathematical modelling. Fundamental measurements of some physical properties of endolymph and perilymph, combined with nystagmus measurements and fluid mechanical analysis of semicircular canal function furthered the theory of canal mechanical response to angular acceleration, caloric stimulation and relating linear acceleration. The effects of adaptation seen at low frequency angular stimulation were studied and modelled to remove some shortcomings of the torsion pendulum models. Otolith function was also studied experimentally and analytically, leading to a new set of models for subjective orientation. Applications to special problems of space, including the case of rotating spacecraft were investigated and the interaction of visual and vestibular cues and their relation to proprioceptive information was explored relative to postural control.
The contribution of the fastigial nucleus and the vestibular nerves (eighth cranial nerves) to the orthostatic reflexes in anesthetized, paralyzed cats was studied. Bilateral lesions of the rostral fastigial nucleus resulted in impairment of the reflex changes in blood pressure, femoral arterial flow, and resistance evoked by head-up tilting to 30 deg or 60 deg. The rostral fastigial nucleus, which might be triggered by the vestibular apparatus, appears to participate in concert with the baroreceptors in the initiation and possibly the maintenance of the orthostatic reflexes.
A comprehensive model of vestibular organ function is presented. The model is based on an analogy with the inertial guidance systems used in navigation. Three distinct operations are investigated: angular motion sensing, linear motion sensing, and computation. These operations correspond to the semicircular canals, the otoliths, and central processing respectively. It is especially important for both an inertial guidance system and the vestibular organs to distinguish between attitude with respect to the vertical on the one hand, and linear velocity and displacement on the other. The model is applied to various experimental situations and found to be corroborated by them.
Stimulation of the vestibular system by angular acceleration produces widespread sensory and motor effects. The present paper studies a motor effect which has not been reported in the literature, i.e., the influence of rotary acceleration of the body on ocular accommodation. The accommodation of 10 young men was recorded before and after a high-level deceleration to zero velocity following 30 sec of rotating. Accommodation was recorded continuously on an infrared optometer for 110 sec under two conditions: while the subjects observed a target set at the far point, and while they viewed the same target through a 0.3-mm pinhole. Stimulation by high-level rotary deceleration produced positive accommodation or a pseudomyopia under both conditions, but the positive accommodation was substantially greater and lasted much longer during fixation through the pinhole. It is hypothesized that this increase in accommodation is a result of a vestibular-ocular accommodation reflex.
The basic characteristics of the sensation of linear horizontal motion have been studied. Objective linear motion was induced by means of a moving cart. Visually induced linear motion perception (linearvection) was obtained by projection of moving images at the periphery of the visual field. Image velocity and luminance thresholds for the appearance of linearvection have been measured and are in the range of those for image motion detection (without sensation of self motion) by the visual system. Latencies of onset are around 1 sec and short term adaptation has been shown. The dynamic range of the visual analyzer as judged by frequency analysis is lower than the vestibular analyzer. Conflicting situations in which visual cues contradict vestibular and other proprioceptive cues show, in the case of linearvection a dominance of vision which supports the idea of an essential although not independent role of vision in self motion perception.
The lower susceptibility to vestibular stimulation aloft, compared with that on ground under experimental conditions, is attributed to a precondition, namely, either there is no need to adapt, or, as exemplified by the Skylab 3 pilot, adaptation to weightlessness is achieved. Findings in some of the astronauts emphasize the distinction between two categories of vestibular side effects: immediate reflex phenomena (illusions, sensations of turning, etc.), and delayed epiphenomena that include the constellation of symptoms and syndromes comprising motion sickness. The drug combinations 1-scopolamine and d-amphetamine and promethazine hydrochloride and ephedrine sulfate are effective in prevention and treatment of motion sickness. It is concluded that prevention of motion sickness in any stressful motion environment involves selection, adaptation, and the use of drugs.
All 139 research papers published under this ten-year program are listed. Experimental work was carried out at the Ames Research Center involving man's sensitivity to rotational acceleration, and psychophysical functioning of the semicircular canals; vestibular-visual interactions and effects of other sensory systems were studied in flight simulator environments. Experiments also dealt with the neurophysiological vestibular functions of animals, and flight management investigations of man-vehicle interactions.
The following research work is reported: (1) vestibular-visual interactions; (2) flight management and crew system interactions; (3) peripheral cue utilization in simulation technology; (4) control of signs and symptoms of motion sickness; (5) auditory cue utilization in flight simulators, and (6) vestibular function: Animal experiments.
NASA is planning to perform a series of Vestibular Function Research (VFR) investigations on the early STS missions to investigate those neurosensory and related physiological processes believed to be associated with the space flight nausea syndrome. The first flight is scheduled for the 1981 Spacelab III Mission in which four frog specimens, mounted on a frog tilting/centrifuge device, will be subjected to periodic acceleration stimuli and periods of artificial gravity. The vestibular nerve firing responses of each frog specimen will be monitored through implanted neutral bouyancy microelectrodes and transmitted to the ground for quick analysis during the flight. The experimentation will be directed at investigating: (1) adaptation to weightlessness; (2) response to acceleration stimuli; (3) response to artificial gravity (in a weightlessness environment) and (4) readaptation to earth's gravity upon return.
The effect of the set of space flight factors caused a change in the activity of the vestibular apparatus and the spatial perception function. More significant and longer shifts were observed during expeditions of great duration. The detected disorders (increase in reactivity of the otolithic apparatus, decrease in sensitivity of the cupula receptor, deterioration in the perception accuracy, etc.) had a definite tendency to be restored. The primary damage to the otolithic reflex (changes were found in practically all the subjects) is probably caused by the specific effect of zero gravitation, and apparently, may be one of the trigger mechanisms for discrepancy in the activity of the sensory systems, disorders in the correcting function of the cerebellum, and central vestibular formations.