Spontaneous activity of otolith-related vestibular nuclear neurons in the decerebrate rat

Lai, Chun-Hong; Chan, Ying-Shing

doi:10.1016/s0006-8993(96)00843-8

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…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]. In rats older than P14, the best response orientation of central otolith neurons was found to point in all directions close to the horizontal plane, indicating that all head orientations on this plane were encoded within the vestibular nucleus [77,78,82]. At P7, however, central otolith neurons particularly tuned for the pitch response were not well developed.…”

Section: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…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%

“…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. Such a uniform spatial distribution was also observed in the cerebellar fastigial nucleus [82] and medial medullary reticular formation [86] of adult cats.…”

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: Functional Development Of Central Vestibular Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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 2 more Smart Citations

Development of the Vestibular System

Lai¹,

Chan²

2002

Neuroembryol Aging

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“…Because of the limitation of the stimulus paradigm, these studies were unable to delineate the neural organization by which the bilateral otoliths contribute to the construction of a spatial frame of reference within the otolith system. These observations raise the following questions that have been addressed in recent studies in our laboratory [28,37,81,[84][85][86] and others [60,109,112,133,163]. Are the spatiotemporal characteristics of central otolith neurons controlled by inputs from the bilateral labyrinths and/or the vestibulocerebellum?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Bilateral Otolith Contribution to Spatial Coding in the Vestibular System

2002

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Recent work on the coding of spatial information in central otolith neurons has significantly advanced our knowledge of signal transformation from head-fixed otolith coordinates to space-centered coordinates during motion. In this review, emphasis is placed on the neural mechanisms by which signals generated at the bilateral labyrinths are recognized as gravity-dependent spatial information and in turn as substrate for otolithic reflexes. We first focus on the spatiotemporal neuronal response patterns (i.e. one- and two-dimensional neurons) to pure otolith stimulation, as assessed by single unit recording from the vestibular nucleus in labyrinth-intact animals. These spatiotemporal features are also analyzed in association with other electrophysiological properties to evaluate their role in the central construction of a spatial frame of reference in the otolith system. Data derived from animals with elimination of inputs from one labyrinth then provide evidence that during vestibular stimulation signals arising from a single utricle are operative at the level of both the ipsilateral and contralateral vestibular nuclei. Hemilabyrinthectomy also revealed neural asymmetries in spontaneous activity, response dynamics and spatial coding behavior between neuronal subpopulations on the two sides and as a result suggested a segregation of otolith signals reaching the ipsilateral and contralateral vestibular nuclei. Recent studies have confirmed and extended previous observations that the recovery of resting activity within the vestibular nuclear complex during vestibular compensation is related to changes in both intrinsic membrane properties and capacities to respond to extracellular factors. The bilateral imbalance provides the basis for deranged spatial coding and motor deficits accompanying hemilabyrinthectomy. Taken together, these experimental findings indicate that in the normal state converging inputs from bilateral vestibular labyrinths are essential to spatiotemporal signal transformation at the central otolith neurons during low-frequency head movements.

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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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Spontaneous activity of otolith-related vestibular nuclear neurons in the decerebrate rat

Cited by 17 publications

References 39 publications

Development of the Vestibular System

Development of the Vestibular System

Bilateral Otolith Contribution to Spatial Coding in 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

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