The superior vestibular nucleus: An intracellular hrp study in the cat. I. Vestibulo‐ocular neurons

Mitsacos, Ada; Reisine, H.; Highstein, Stephen M.

doi:10.1002/cne.902150107

Cited by 52 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…When studying patients with unilateral labyrinthine loss, Norré et al (1987) reported that vestibulo-ocular reflexes compensate in 57% of them and that this result is not affected by age. This study is related to our findings in the rostral third of the MVN, although the superior vestibular nucleus and the rostral part of the lateral vestibular nucleus should also be studied since neurons within the latter nuclei also project to the oculomotor nuclei (Steiger and Bü ttner-Ennever, 1979;Mitsacos et al, 1983).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Neuronal loss in human medial vestibular nucleus

et al. 1998

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The data concerning the effects of age on the brainstem are inconsistent, and few works are devoted to the human vestibular nuclear complex. The medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) is the largest nucleus of the vestibular nuclear complex, and it seems to be related mainly to vestibular compensation and vestibulo-ocular reflexes. Eight human brainstems have been used in this work. The specimens were embedded in paraffin, sectioned, and stained by the formaldehyde-thionin technique. Neuron profiles were drawn with a camera lucida at x330. Abercrombie's method was used to estimate the total number of neurons. We used the test of Kolmogorov-Smirnov with the correction of Lilliefors to evaluate the fit of our data to a normal distribution, and a regression analysis was performed to determine if the variation of our data with age was statistically significant. The present study clearly shows that neuronal loss occurs with aging. The total number of neurons decreases with age, from 122,241 +/- 651 cells in a 35-year-old individual to 75,915 +/- 453 cells in an 89-year-old individual. Neuron loss was significant in the caudal and intermediate thirds of the nucleus, whereas the changes in the rostral third were not significant. The nuclear diameter of surviving neurons decreased significantly with age. There is a neuron loss in the MVN that seems to be age-related. It could help explain why elderly people find it hard to compensate for unilateral vestibular deficits. The preservation of neurons in the rostral third could be related to the fact that this area primarily innervates the oculolmotor nuclei; these latter neurons do not decrease in number in other species studied.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Neuronal loss in human medial vestibular nucleus

et al. 1998

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…All of these reports demonstrate that both otolith macula project to peripheral regions of the SuVe, not to the central, larger-celled area thought to be the origin of inhibitory second-order vestibulo-ocular fibers (Highstein and Reisine, 1979;Mitsacos et al, 1983a). These peripheral regions have been shown to project to the cerebellum and bilateral vestibular nuclei (Gacek, 1978;Pompeiano et al, 1978;Mitsacos et al, 1983b).…”

Section: Discussion Projections To the Major Vestibular Nucleimentioning

confidence: 93%

Central projections of the saccular and utricular nerves in macaques

Newlands

Vrabec

Purcell

et al. 2003

J of Comparative Neurology

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The central projections of the utricular and saccular nerve in macaques were examined using transganglionic labeling of vestibular afferent neurons. In these experiments, biotinylated dextran amine was injected directly into the saccular or utricular neuroepithelium of fascicularis (Macaca fascicularis) or rhesus (Macaca mulatta) monkeys. Two to 5 weeks later, the animals were killed and the peripheral vestibular sensory organs, brainstem, and cerebellum were collected for analysis. The principal brainstem areas of saccular nerve termination were lateral, particularly the spinal vestibular nucleus, the lateral portion of the superior vestibular nucleus, ventral nucleus y, the external cuneate nucleus, and cell group l. The principal cerebellar projection was to the uvula with a less dense projection to the nodulus. Principle brainstem areas of termination of the utricular nerve were the lateral/dorsal medial vestibular nucleus, ventral and lateral portions of the superior vestibular nucleus, and rostral portion of the spinal vestibular nucleus. In the cerebellum, a strong projection was observed to the nodulus and weak projections were present in the flocculus, ventral paraflocculus, bilateral fastigial nuclei, and uvula. Although there is extensive overlap of saccular and utricular projections, saccular inputs to the lateral portions of the vestibular nuclear complex suggest that saccular afferents contribute to the vestibulospinal system. In contrast, the utricular nerve projects more rostrally into areas of known concentration of vestibulo-ocular related cells. Although sparse, the projections of the utricle to the flocculus/ventral paraflocculus suggest a potential convergence with floccular projection inputs from the vestibular brainstem that have been implicated in vestibulo-ocular motor learning.

show abstract

“…Cells with relatively large dendritic trees, potentially composed of spines and regions with large input impedances, have been described in the vestibular nuclei (Mitsacos et al 1983;Ohgaki et al 1988;Highstein and McCrea 1988). In addition, the presence of GABA and glycine receptors that are associated with C1-channels and are possible candidates for shunting inhibition has been documented (cf., Precht 1979;Walberg et al 1990).…”

Section: Mathematical Multiplication Might Be Performed By Single Cellsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Detection of rotating gravity signals

Angelaki

1992

Biol. Cybern.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is shown in the preceding paper that neurons with two-dimensional spatio-temporal properties to linear acceleration behave like one-dimensional rate sensors: they encode the component of angular velocity (associated with a rotating linear acceleration vector) that is normal to their response plane. During off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) otolith-sensitive neurons are activated by the gravity vector as it rotates relative to the head. Unlike "one-dimensional" linear accelerometer neurons which exhibit equal response magnitudes for both directions of rotation, "two-dimensional" neurons can be shown to respond with unequal magnitudes to clockwise and counterclockwise off-vertical axis rotations. The magnitudes of the sinusoidal responses of these neurons is not only directionally selective but also proportional to rotational velocity. Thus, responses from such "two-dimensional" neurons may represent the first step in the computations necessary to generate the steady-state eye velocity during OVAR. An additional step involving a nonlinear operation is necessary to transform the sinusoidally modulated output of these neurons into a signal proportional to sustained eye velocity. Similarly to models of motion detection in the visual system, this transformation is proposed to be achieved through neuronal operations involving mathematical multiplication followed by a leaky integration by the velocity storage mechanism. The proposed model for the generation of maintained eye velocity during OVAR is based on anatomical and physiological properties of vestibular nuclei neurons and capable of predicting the experimentally observed steady-state characteristics of the eye velocity.

show abstract

The superior vestibular nucleus: An intracellular hrp study in the cat. I. Vestibulo‐ocular neurons

Cited by 52 publications

References 37 publications

Neuronal loss in human medial vestibular nucleus

Neuronal loss in human medial vestibular nucleus

Central projections of the saccular and utricular nerves in macaques

Detection of rotating gravity signals

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About