Central vestibular compensation: Update

Abstract

Vestibular compensation involves multiple, parallel plastic routes at various locations in the brain. Experimental studies propose that adaptive changes in the sensitivity of central vestibular system to the inhibitory neurotransmitters GABA and glycine, changes in the electrophysiological excitability of vestibular neurons, changes in the inhibitory control of the brainstem, vestibular networks by the cerebellum, gliosis and neurogenesis in the vestibular nuclei, and activity-dependent reorganization of the synaptic network of the vestibular pathways, are mechanisms involved in central compensation.