Plastic properties of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy.
Disorders in vestibulo-ocular functions were studied in 4 patients with olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy (OPCA). The phenomenon of habituation, considered as a plastic property of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), was explored with a behavioural paradigm in these patients. When subjected to the habituation paradigm all patients presented a modified response opposite to that observed in normal subjects. The role played by the cerebellum in relation to VOR plasticity--well known in different experimental models--is analyzed. The hypothesis of a modification of the cerebellum's inhibitory action on vestibular nuclei neurons is put forward to explain the inversion of the VOR habituation phenomenon in these patients.
Suárez
H
H
Laboratorio de Fisiopatologia Vestibular de Medicina, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Rosales
B
B
Claussen
C F
CF
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009849:Olivopontocerebellar Atrophies / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012027:Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014726:Vestibular Nuclei / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*