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185 records · Page 11

Neural basis for eye velocity generation in the vestibular nuclei of alert monkeys during off-vertical axis rotation

Activity of "vestibular only" (VO) and "vestibular plus saccade" (VPS) units was recorded in the rostral part of the medial vestibular nucleus and caudal part of the superior vestibular nucleus of alert rhesus monkeys. By estimating the "null axes" of recorded units (n = 79), the optimal plane of activation was approximately the mean plane of reciprocal semicircular canals, i.e., lateral canals, left anterior-right posterior (LARP) canals or right anterior-left posterior (RALP) canals. All units were excited by rotation in a direction that excited a corresponding ipsilateral semicircular canal. Thus, they all displayed a "type I" response. With the animal upright, there were rapid changes in firing rates of both VO and VPS units in response to steps of angular velocity about a vertical axis. The units were bidirectionally activated during vestibular nystagmus (VN), horizontal optokinetic nystagmus (OKN), optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN) and off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR). The rising and falling time constants of the responses to rotation indicated that they were closely linked to velocity storage. There were differences between VPS and VO neurons in that activity of VO units followed the expected time course in response to a stimulus even during periods of drowsiness, when eye velocity was reduced. Firing rates of VPS units, on the other hand, were significantly reduced in the drowsy state. Lateral canal-related units had average firing rates that were linearly related to the bias or steady state level of horizontal eye velocity during OVAR over a range of +/- 60 deg/s. These units could be further divided into two classes according to whether they were modulated during OVAR. Non-modulated units (n = 5) were VO types and all modulated units (n = 5) were VPS types. There was no significant difference between the bias level sensitivities relative to eye velocity of the units with and without modulation (P > 0.05). The modulated units had no sustained change in firing rate in response to static head tilts and their phases relative to head position varied from unit to unit. The phase did not appear to be linked to the modulation of horizontal eye velocity during OVAR. The sensitivities of unit activity to eye velocity were similar during all stimulus modalities despite the different gains of eye velocity vs stimulus velocity during VN, OKN and OVAR. Therefore, VO and VPS units are likely to carry an eye velocity signal related to velocity storage.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS).

Non-NASA Center↗

Nystagmus induced by electrical stimulation of the vestibular and prepositus hypoglossi nuclei in the monkey: evidence for site of induction of velocity storage

Electrical stimulation of the vestibular nuclei (VN) and prepositus hypoglossi nuclei (PPH) of alert cynomolgus monkeys evoked nystagmus and eye deviation while they were in darkness. At some sites in VN, nystagmus and after-nystagmus were induced with characteristics suggesting that velocity storage had been excited. We analyzed these responses and compared them to the slow component of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and to optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN). We then recorded unit activity in VN and determined which types of nystagmus would be evoked from the sites of recording. Nystagmus and eye deviations were also elicited by electrical stimulation of PPH, and we characterized the responses where unit activity was recorded in PPH. Horizontal slow phase velocity of the VN "storage" responses was contralateral to the side of stimulation. The rising time constants and peak steady-state velocities were similar to those of OKN, and the falling time constants of the after-nystagmus and of OKAN were approximately equal. Both the induced after-nystagmus and OKAN were habituated by stimulation of the VN. When horizontal after-nystagmus was evoked with animals on their sides, it developed yaw and pitch components that tended to shift the vector of the slow phase velocity toward the spatial vertical. Similar "cross-coupling" occurs for horizontal OKAN or for vestibular post-rotatory nystagmus elicited in tilted positions. Thus, the storage component of nystagmus induced by VN stimulation had the same characteristics as the slow component of OKN and the VOR. Positive stimulus sites for inducing nystagmus with typical storage components were located in rostral portions of VN. They lay in caudal ventral superior vestibular nucleus (SVN), dorsal portions of central medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) caudal to the abducens nuclei and in adjacent lateral vestibular nucleus (LVN). More complex stimulus responses, but with contralateral after-nystagmus, were induced from surrounding regions of ventral MVN and LVN, rostral descending vestibular nucleus and the marginal zone between MVN and PPH. Vestibular-only (VO), vestibular plus saccade (VPS) and tonic vestibular pause (TVP) units were identified by extracellular recording. Stimulation near type I lateral and vertical canal-related VO units elicited typical "storage" responses with after-nystagmus in 23 of 29 tracks (79%). Stimulus responses were more complex from the region of neurons with oculomotor-related signals, i.e., TVP or VPS cells, although after-nystagmus was also elicited from these sites. Effects of vestibular nerve and nucleus stimulation were compared.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS).

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗

[Circadian rhythms and temperature homeostasis in monkeys during a flight on the Kosmos 1514 biosatellite]

In the course of a 5-day space flight of two rhesus-monkeys the following parameters were recorded at an interval of 16 min: core body temperature (Tc), skin temperature (Ts), and motor activity (MA). The telemetric Tc sensor was implanted subcutaneously in the right axilla, Ts thermistor was attached to the right ankle, and the MA piezotape was fixed to the inner side of the vest. Circadian rhythms of Tc varied with a period of 24 hours in one monkey and 25 hours in the other. The daily Tc decreased on the average by 0.5 degrees C, Ts fell immediately after launch and remained close to the lower limit throughout the flight. The Ts amplitude decreased 5-fold. Phases of the circadian rhythms of Ts changed and circadian rhythms of MA remained unchanged and equal to 24 hours.

Cosmos 1514 Project↗

Properties of cerebellar fastigial neurons during translation, rotation, and eye movements

The most medial of the deep cerebellar nuclei, the fastigial nucleus (FN), receives sensory vestibular information and direct inhibition from the cerebellar vermis. We investigated the signal processing in the primate FN by recording single-unit activities during translational motion, rotational motion, and eye movements. Firing rate modulation during horizontal plane translation in the absence of eye movements was observed in all non-eye-movement-sensitive cells and 26% of the pursuit eye-movement-sensitive neurons in the caudal FN. Many non-eye-movement-sensitive cells recorded in the rostral FN of three fascicularis monkeys exhibited convergence of signals from both the otolith organs and the semicircular canals. At low frequencies of translation, the majority of these rostral FN cells changed their firing rates in phase with head velocity rather than linear acceleration. As frequency increased, FN vestibular neurons exhibited a wide range of response dynamics with most cells being characterized by increasing phase leads as a function of frequency. Unlike cells in the vestibular nuclei, none of the rostral FN cells responded to rotational motion alone, without simultaneously exhibiting sensitivity to translational motion. Modulation during earth-horizontal axis rotation was observed in more than half (77%) of the neurons, although with smaller gains than during translation. In contrast, only 47% of the cells changed their firing rates during earth-vertical axis rotations in the absence of a dynamic linear acceleration stimulus. These response properties suggest that the rostral FN represents a main processing center of otolith-driven information for inertial motion detection and spatial orientation.

Non-NASA Center↗