Alcohol and the Oculomotor System

Umeda, Yoshio; Sakata, Eiji; Ohtsu, Kyoko

doi:10.3950/jibiinkoka.80.131

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Although a reduced ability to suppress the vestibuloocular reflex by visual fixation of a head-fixed target has been described for stimulation of the semicircular canal [25,41], this could not explain our results during linear acceleration because we used an earth-fixed target that is able to increase the vestibular response during wholebody oscillation.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 75%

“…It is well known that the flocculonodular lobe of the cerebellum plays an important role in visual suppression mechanisms [41] and that visual suppression is disturbed by flocculonodular lobe lesions [40]. Furthermore, we know that lesions of the cerebellum produce a vestibular hyper-reaction during rotational tests, for example.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…5,6,24,29,41,45]. These studies showed that ethanol can induce a peripheral positional [4,9,28] or a bi-directional nystagmus [2]; impair saccadic [15,25] and pursuit eye movements [3,9,17,25,39,46]; lead to a disturbed visual suppression [18,19,35,25,39,41]; or lead to a decreasing slow phase of the optokinetic nystagmus [8] and reduce the gain of the vestibulo-ocular reflex [4,31,35]. Furthermore, Hill and Toffolon [20] found a reduction in the visual fields, in convergence and accommodation after ethanol ingestion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of ethanol on dynamic visual acuity during vertical body oscillation in healthy volunteers

Schmäl¹,

Kunz²,

Ortmann

et al. 2000

European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology

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Visual orientation is the most important sensory input during locomotion (e.g. walking, driving a car, riding a bicycle). We investigated dynamic visual acuity (DVA) during vertical body-oscillations (amplitude 5 cm; frequency 1.5 Hz) in 12 healthy subjects before and twice after ethanol consumption. During oscillation, vertical eye movements were recorded under two test conditions: with eyes closed (EC) and during DVA testing. A significant increase in vertical eye-amplitude after ethanol ingestion occurred only during EC tests, as a possible sign of vestibular hyperreaction. During vestibular stimulation alone (EC), ethanol did not affect the phase shift between stimulus and eye movements. However, when the subjects were given an additional visual stimulus (DVA), the post-alcohol phase shift rose significantly. Surprisingly, the post-alcohol phase shift values for the two test conditions showed no significant differences. After ethanol ingestion we found no changes in static visual acuity but a significant loss of DVA. Volunteers with a change of DVA threshold (DVAT) showed significantly (P = 0.004) higher post-alcoholic changes in the phase shift. In summary, low doses of ethanol disturbed the visually guided oculomotor response during fixation of an earth-fixed target while the observer was subject to linear vertical acceleration. This effect led to an increasing delay between the beginning of body and eye movements. The consequence was an increasing phase shift and thus a decrease in DVA during whole-body oscillation which was comparable to movements during human locomotion.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 75%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of ethanol on dynamic visual acuity during vertical body oscillation in healthy volunteers

Schmäl¹,

Kunz²,

Ortmann

et al. 2000

European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology

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“…Many investigators have reported the effects of alcohol on the oculomotor system (Barnes 1984; Barnes et al 1985;Umeda and Sakata 1978;Wilkinson et al 1974) and on the vestibular system through positional alcohol nystagmus (Aschan et al 1956;Brandt 1991;Money and Myles 1974). However, there are few reports concerning the acute effects of ethanol on the vestibular function, which controls postural stability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Effects of alcohol on body-sway patterns in human subjects

Nieschalk

Ortmann

West

et al. 1999

International Journal of Legal Medicine

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The vestibulospinal aspects of vestibular function are commonly neglected in the evaluation of alcohol-induced intoxication. Thus, in the present study the effect of an acute intoxication with a low or moderate quantity of alcohol was examined with respect to the equilibrium in 30 healthy subjects. The blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was measured 30 min after the ingestion of the last alcohol, ranging between 0.22 and 1.59 per thousand. Stability of stance was quantified by static platform posturography in Romberg-test conditions with eyes open and eyes closed. Among other parameters, the average body sway path (SP) and area of body sway (SA) were assessed. Posturography revealed a significant increase in body sway. There was a positive correlation between SA (or SP) and BAC both with eyes open and eyes closed. Multiple group comparisons revealed that the large-alcohol-dose group (BAC > or = 1.0 per thousand) could be clearly differentiated from test cases with BAC lower than 0.8 per thousand. Sway area was the most sensitive parameter for detecting increased body sway after alcohol ingestion. The area increase, present not only with eyes closed but with eyes open, revealed an inadequate compensation of the ethanol-induced ataxia by visual stabilization. The Romberg's quotient, which denotes eyes closed relative to eyes open, remained constant. The increase in sway path with eyes closed showed an omnidirectional sway. A comparison of the sway pattern of subjects after acute ethanol ingestion with the data of patients with permanent cerebellar lesions suggested that the acute effect of alcohol resembles that of a lesion of the spinocerebellum. This finding contrasts with earlier studies, which postulated an acute effect of ethanol resembling that in patients with an atrophy of the anterior lobe of the cerebellum due to chronic alcohol abuse. In seven cases of the lower dose group (BAC < or = 0.8 per thousand), a reduction in body sway after alcohol ingestion was observed. This finding may be consistent with a dose-related biphasic action of alcohol, which - besides its well-known depressant effects with high doses - also shows stimulatory action with small doses.

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“…

IntroductionMany earlier studies showed that ethanol (alcohol) induces changes in the performance of the oculomotor system [10,35], with a marked decrease in the peak velocity of saccades [20]. Drunk driving continues to be one of the most serious safety problems since epidemiological studies have shown that drivers involved in traffic accidents are more likely to be under the influence of alcohol or other drugs than drivers not involved in accidents.

…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of oral ethanol consumption on eye movements in healthy volunteers

Möser¹,

Heide²,

Kömpf³

1998

Journal of Neurology

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Horizontal and vertical eye movements were recorded and analysed with an infrared photoelectric technique in 12 healthy volunteers under various blood alcohol concentrations (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 g/kg body weight, [% per thousand]). The predictive smooth-pursuit tracking and saccadic eye movements were studied in response to unpredictable target jumps and during scanning of a classical kitchen scene and a traffic scene. Smooth-pursuit eye movement gain value decreased dose-dependently and was compensated by an increased number of catch-up saccades. With increasing blood alcohol concentrations peak velocities of horizontal and vertical visually guided reflexive saccades decreased while their latencies to the target increased. At blood alcohol concentrations of 0.5% per thousand and 1.0% per thousand healthy volunteers showed significantly longer mean fixation durations and a lower total number of exploratory saccades when scanning both the classical kitchen scene and the traffic scene. Surprisingly, in both of these scanning tasks the total fixation duration or the relative number of exploratory saccades increased in those scene sectors in which exciting situations were presented. Additionally, the time interval needed to foveate these exciting areas for the first time increased, probably due to an attention deficit. In conclusion, these findings indicate that alcohol consumption impairs the velocity and initiation of saccadic and smooth-pursuit eye movements, but that subjects can nevertheless still recognize exciting and relevant areas of visual scenes. The significant increase in fixation time, however, does not allow scanning of the entire visual scene during an adequate period of time. Therefore the reduced visual exploration caused by alcohol reflects an impaired sensorimotor processing of active visual perception.

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Alcohol and the Oculomotor System

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Effect of ethanol on dynamic visual acuity during vertical body oscillation in healthy volunteers

Effect of ethanol on dynamic visual acuity during vertical body oscillation in healthy volunteers

Effects of alcohol on body-sway patterns in human subjects

The effect of oral ethanol consumption on eye movements in healthy volunteers

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