The electrical activity of the muscles of the eye and eyelids in various positions and during movement

Björk, Åke; Kugelberg, Eric

doi:10.1016/0013-4694(53)90037-6

Cited by 120 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…As such, we hypothesise that automatic gain compensation should not normally change the amplitude of vestibular evoked eye movements. For any eye position in the plane of an antagonist muscle pair (except neutral position), one muscle will have increased tonic activity and the other will have decreased activity (Björk and Kugelberg, 1953). Assuming relatively balanced reciprocal modulation of tonic activity at moderate gaze angles (Collins et al, 1975), when a transient eye movement is initiated from a non-neutral starting position, a larger muscle response in the tonically active muscle would automatically be offset by a smaller (and opposite polarity) response in its less-active pair.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do oVEMPs become larger when you look up? Explaining the effect of gaze elevation on the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential

Rosengren¹,

Colebatch²,

Straumann³

et al. 2013

Clinical Neurophysiology

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OBJECTIVES: The ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) is a vestibular reflex recorded from the inferior oblique (IO) muscles, which increases in amplitude during eye elevation. We investigated whether this effect of gaze elevation could be explained by movement of the IO closer to the recording electrode. METHODS: We compared oVEMPs recorded with different gaze elevations to those recorded with constant gaze position but electrodes placed at increasing distance from the eyes. oVEMPs were recorded in ten healthy subjects using bursts of skull vibration. RESULTS: oVEMP amplitude decreased more with decreasing gaze elevation (9 V from 24°up to neutral) than with increasing electrode distance (2.7 V from baseline to 6.4mm; P<0.005). The oVEMP recorded with gaze 24°down had delayed latency (by 4.5ms). CONCLUSION: The effect of gaze elevation on the oVEMP cannot be explained by changes in position of the muscle alone and is likely mainly due to increased tonic contraction of the IO muscle in up-gaze. The oVEMP recorded in down-gaze (when the IO is inactivated, but the IR activated) likely originates in the adjacent IR muscle. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that oVEMP amplitudes in extraocular muscles scale in response to changing tonic muscle activity. Highlights: Gaze elevation significantly increases oVEMP amplitude, while gaze depression decreases amplitude and prolongs latency.  This gaze effect is primarily due to changes in tonic eye muscle activity, while the contribution of changes in muscle-electrode distance is significant but small.  oVEMPs recorded from below the eyes originate mainly in the inferior oblique muscle during up-gaze and in the inferior rectus muscle during down-gaze. 2 AbstractObjectives: The ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) is a vestibular reflex recorded from the inferior oblique (IO) muscles, which increases in amplitude during eye elevation. We investigated whether this effect of gaze elevation could be explained by movement of the IO closer to the recording electrode.Methods: We compared oVEMPs recorded with different gaze elevations to those recorded with constant gaze position but electrodes placed at increasing distance from the eyes.oVEMPs were recorded in ten healthy subjects using bursts of skull vibration.Results: oVEMP amplitude decreased more with decreasing gaze elevation (9 V from 24º up to neutral) than with increasing electrode distance (2.7 V from baseline to 6.4 mm;P<0.005). The oVEMP recorded with gaze 24º down had delayed latency (by 4.5 ms). Conclusion:The effect of gaze elevation on the oVEMP cannot be explained by changes in position of the muscle alone and is likely mainly due to increased tonic contraction of the IO muscle in up-gaze. The oVEMP recorded in down-gaze (when the IO is inactivated, but the IR activated) likely originates in the adjacent IR muscle.Significance: Our results suggest that oVEMP amplitudes in extraocular muscles scale in response to changing tonic muscle activity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do oVEMPs become larger when you look up? Explaining the effect of gaze elevation on the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential

Rosengren¹,

Colebatch²,

Straumann³

et al. 2013

Clinical Neurophysiology

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“…There is therefore a clear timing discrepancy between the onset of the pause of the LPSMNs and the onset of the pause of the OPNs for trigeminal blinks. The observation that the onset of the LPSMN inhibition precedes blink onset and outlasts the time of maximum eyelid closing also applies to spontaneous blinks (Bjork and Kugelberg 1953). Wang et al (2009) recently reported that the central mesencephalic reticular formation, a major target of the superior colliculus, has a direct inhibitory action on the OPNs.…”

Section: Opn Pause Onsetmentioning

confidence: 95%

Macaque Pontine Omnipause Neurons Play No Direct Role in the Generation of Eye Blinks

Schultz

Williams

Busettini

2010

Journal of Neurophysiology

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We recorded the activity of pontine omnipause neurons (OPNs) in two macaques during saccadic eye movements and blinks. As previously reported, we found that OPNs fire tonically during fixation and pause about 15 ms before a saccadic eye movement. In contrast, for blinks elicited by air puffs, the OPNs paused Ͻ2 ms before the onset of the blink. Thus the burst in the agonist orbicularis oculi motoneurons (OOMNs) and the pause in the antagonist levator palpabrae superioris motoneurons (LPSMNs) necessarily precede the OPN pause. For spontaneous blinks there was no correlation between blink and pause onsets. In addition, the OPN pause continued for 40 -60 ms after the time of the maximum downward closing of the eyelids, which occurs around the end of the OOMN burst of firing. LPSMN activity is not responsible for terminating the OPN pause because OPN resumption was very rapid, whereas the resumption of LPSMN firing during the reopening phase is gradual. OPN pause onset does not directly control blink onset, nor does pause offset control or encode the transition between the end of the OOMN firing and the resumption of the LPSMNs. The onset of the blink-related eye transients preceded both blink and OPN pause onsets. Therefore they initiated while the saccadic short-lead burst neurons were still fully inhibited by the OPNs and cannot be saccadic in origin. The abrupt dynamic change of the vertical eye transients from an oscillatory behavior to a single time constant exponential drift predicted the resumption of the OPNs.

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“…Both lids then commenced to fall, the lowest point of the left lid being reached at the same time as a slowing of downward movement of the right. Bjork & Kugelberg (1953) showed that the frequency of discharge from the levator palpebrae decreased as the gaze was lowered. This and other evidence described elsewhere (Kennard & Smyth, 1963) indicate that most movements of the upper eyelid are caused by varying activity of the levator.…”

Section: Nervous Linkage Between the Eyelidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The downward movement of the contralateral lid could have been due to a relaxation of the levator muscle or to a contraction of the orbicularis. Evidence on this point is not available, but in view of the minimum participation of the orbicularis in eyelid movements other than blinks and eye closure (Gordon, 1951;Bjork & Kugelberg, 1953;Kennard & Smyth, 1962) The onset of sleep During the observations on the reactions to downward application of weights to the upper eyelids, the opportunity arose to record the changes at the onset of sleep when subjects became drowsy. Figure 7 shows that the relaxation of the weighted lid following the application of a load was considerably increased.…”

Section: Nervous Linkage Between the Eyelidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflex regulation of the upper eyelids, with observations on the onset of sleep

Kennard¹,

Smyth²

1963

The Journal of Physiology

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The electrical activity of the muscles of the eye and eyelids in various positions and during movement

Cited by 120 publications

References 9 publications

Why do oVEMPs become larger when you look up? Explaining the effect of gaze elevation on the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential

Why do oVEMPs become larger when you look up? Explaining the effect of gaze elevation on the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential

Macaque Pontine Omnipause Neurons Play No Direct Role in the Generation of Eye Blinks

Reflex regulation of the upper eyelids, with observations on the onset of sleep

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