On The Origin Of Positional Alcohol Nystagmus

Abstract

The vestibular system plays an important role in the origin of positional alcohol nystagmus (P.A.N.). An investigation was performed on the effect of artificial lesions in the peripheral vestibular organs of rabbits upon P.A.N. In rabbits in which the otoliths were eliminated on both sides, a P.A.N. could not be provoked. If on one side the labyrinth was totally destroyed, a P.A.N. could still be elicited, but if in the only intact labyrinth the utricular nerve was also transected, a P.A.N. could no longer be elicited. That the otoliths are responsible for the P.A.N. also finds support in the fact that increased g forces effect a P.A.N. in rabbits as well as in man.