Spontaneous discharge and response characteristics of central otolith neurons of rats during postnatal development

Lai, Chun-Hong; Chan, Ying-Shing

doi:10.1016/s0306-4522(00)00539-x

Cited by 31 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Efferent activation in the toadfish was found to result in an elevation of afferent activity such that the rectified response to acceleration became bidirectionally responsive without a change in response sensitivity [32]. A decrease in the number of clipped otolith neurons with age has also been attributed to the maturation of the efferent system [35], which only fully develops in the third postnatal week [36]. Nonetheless, the contribution of the efferent system to the postnatal maturation of vestibular function awaits further study.…”

Section: Innervation Of Vestibular Hair Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The properties of central otolith neurons in coding head movements near the horizontal plane have been studied in postnatal [35,[76][77][78] and adult rats [77,[79][80][81]. With the use of such natural stimuli as off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) [77,78,[82][83][84][85] and horizontal linear acceleration [79][80][81], the best vectors of central otolith neurons of adult animals were found to point in all directions on the horizontal plane.…”

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, the development of vestibular nuclear neurons in coding head movements was studied in postnatal rats [35,76,89]. In these studies, OVAR was used to selectively stimulate the otolith by introducing a rotating gravity vector around the head [90].…”

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In these studies, OVAR was used to selectively stimulate the otolith by introducing a rotating gravity vector around the head [90]. All central otolith neurons displayed position-dependent changes in the firing rate during 360-degree OVAR, indicating their capability to code spatial information during low-frequency head movement [35]. However, the capacity of central otolith neurons to code head movements in neonatal rats is lower than the adult level.…”

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At P7, the vast majority of central otolith neurons showed irregular discharge patterns. As the rats matured, the overall population showed more regular patterns [35,78]. Spontaneous activities of the neurons in the stationary position were analysed in relation to their response gains during otolith activation, and a positive correlation was observed from P14 onwards [35].…”

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of the Vestibular System

Lai¹,

Chan²

2002

Neuroembryol Aging

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This review mainly focuses on the development of the vestibular system in humans and other mammals, but reference is made to anurans and other species where applicable. In the first section, the steps involved in the development of undifferentiated cells into mature vestibular receptors are analysed. Available data indicate that in humans, maturation of the vestibular receptor and its afferent innervations involves a similar sequence of events as in other mammalian species. In the second section, morphological and physiological aspects of the maturation of the central vestibular system are presented. Undifferentiated neuron precursors have been identified in specific segregrated domains of the hindbrain neural tube, and these can develop into secondary vestibular neurons with unique properties. Several neuronal populations in the vestibulospinal and vestibulo-ocular pathways have been found to correlate with rhombomeric domains at early embryonic stages. In rodents, the vestibular system continues to develop postnatally in terms of morphology and function until it achieves its final form. The postnatal changes in the properties of vestibular nuclear neurons are chronologically matched with structural changes and serve to prime the development of vestibular-induced reflexes.

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Section: Innervation Of Vestibular Hair Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Development of the Vestibular System

Lai¹,

Chan²

2002

Neuroembryol Aging

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Quantitative study of the coexpression of Fos and N‐methyl‐D aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunits in otolith‐related vestibular nuclear neurons of rats

Chen

Lai

Law

et al. 2003

J of Comparative Neurology

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The expression of NMDA receptor subunits (NR1 and NR2A/B) was demonstrated immunocytochemically in otolith-related neurons within the vestibular nuclear complex and its subnuclei of conscious Sprague-Dawley adult rats. All experimental animals were subjected to constant velocity off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR). The rotating gravity vector during OVAR sequentially activates hair cells on all sectors of the utricular maculae; neurons so activated within the vestibular nuclei were denoted by the expression of Fos protein. Control animals, i.e., labyrinthectomized rats subjected to OVAR and normal rats that remained stationary, showed only a few sporadically scattered labeled neurons. In the brainstem of normal rats subjected to OVAR, a high density of Fos-immunoreactive (Fos-ir) neurons was found in the vestibular nuclear complex (namely, spinal vestibular nucleus, SpVe; medial vestibular nucleus, Mve; superior vestibular nucleus, SuVe) and subnuclei (namely, group x and group y), whereas a lower density was found in the lateral vestibular nucleus (LVe). A double-immunofluorescence study indicated that both NR1 and NR2A/B subunits were highly expressed in Fos-ir neurons within the vestibular nuclei. Fos/NR1 or Fos/NR2A/B double-labeled neurons constitute over three-quarters of the total number of Fos-ir neurons in SpVe, MVe, LVe, SuVe, and groups x and y. Our findings suggest that NMDA-type ionotropic glutamate receptors play a key role in the OVAR-induced neuronal activation of the vestibular nuclei, thus providing a morphological basis for further study of glutamatergic central otolith neurons and their involvement in sensorimotor regulation and autonomic functions of rats.

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Fos expression in otolith‐related brainstem neurons of postnatal rats following off‐vertical axis rotation

Lai

Tse

Shum

et al. 2004

J of Comparative Neurology

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To determine the critical time of responsiveness of developing otolith organ-related brainstem neurons and their distribution, Fos protein expression in response to off-vertical axis rotations (OVAR) was mapped in conscious Sprague Dawley rats from P5 to adulthood. OVAR was used to activate sequentially all utricular hair cells per 360 degrees revolution. We detected the coding of horizontal head positions in otolith organ-related neurons within the vestibular nucleus as early as P7. In the vestibular nuclear complex and its subgroups, the density of Fos-immunoreactive (Fos-ir) neurons increased steadily with age and reached the adult level by P21. In both labyrinthectomized rats subjected to OVAR and normal rats kept stationary, labeled neurons were found sporadically in the aforementioned brain regions in each age group, confirming that Fos labeling observed in neurons of normal experimental rats subjected to OVAR was due to otolith organ stimulation. Whereas OVAR-induced Fos-ir neurons were also first observed in vestibular-related brain areas, such as the prepositus hypoglossal nucleus, gigantocellular reticular nucleus, and locus coeruleus, of normal experimental rats at P7, those in the inferior olive were observed only from P14 onward. This indicates the unique maturation time of inferior olivary neurons in gravity-related spatial coding. In general, age-dependent increase in OVAR-induced Fos-ir neurons was observed in brain areas that received otolith inputs. The locus coeruleus was exceptional in that prominent OVAR-induced Fos-ir neuronal number did not change with maturation, and this was well above the low but significant number of Fos-ir neurons in control preparations. Taken together, our results suggest that neuronal subpopulations within the developing network of the horizontal otolith system provide an anatomical basis for the postnatal development of otolith organ-related sensorimotor functions. J. Comp. Neurol. 470:282-296, 2004.

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Spontaneous discharge and response characteristics of central otolith neurons of rats during postnatal development

Cited by 31 publications

References 53 publications

Development of the Vestibular System

Development of the Vestibular System

Quantitative study of the coexpression of Fos and N‐methyl‐D aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunits in otolith‐related vestibular nuclear neurons of rats

Fos expression in otolith‐related brainstem neurons of postnatal rats following off‐vertical axis rotation

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