Vestibular Disturbances After Neck Muscle Sectioning in Rat

Abstract

The nystagmus response to rotatory acceleration was investigated in rats. The stimulus was exerted by a turntable accelerated 13.3°/sec² for 9 seconds and after 1–2 minutes decelerated accordingly. Eye movements were recorded using the search coil technique. The duration of postrotatory nystagmus and speed of slow component velocity gain were recorded. After unilateral neck muscle sectioning no change appeared. After bilateral sectioning the nystagmus response was increased with a remaining high gain and prolonged response duration. The experiments show the influence by the muscles on the velocity storage mechanism.

Key Words:

• Rotatory acceleration
• nystagmus
• neck muscle sectioning
• velocity storage