Asymmetry of blinking.
OBJECTIVE
Too investigate asymmetry in eyelid movements with blinking, the stability of the asymmetry, and its modifiability in normal humans.


METHODS
Differences in the start time and amplitude between the two eyelids were assessed for voluntary blinks and reflex blinks evoked by supraorbital trigeminal nerve stimulation. These variables were also measured before and up to 18 months after 2 hours of unilateral upper lid restraint.


RESULTS
With voluntary blinks, one eyelid consistently began to close earlier and made a larger eyelid movement than the other eyelid. Stimulation of the supraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve evoked relatively larger amplitude blinks in one eyelid that correlated with the asymmetries of voluntary blinks. There was a continuum of eyelid asymmetry across all subjects that was stable and independent of other biological asymmetries, such as handedness. Briefly reducing eyelid mobility created a long-lasting change in eyelid asymmetry with blinking.


CONCLUSIONS
Eyelid asymmetry results from differences in the excitability of motoneurons in the left and right facial motor nuclei and does not appear to involve asymmetries in cortical inputs to the brain stem. Because adaptive processes modify the motoneuron excitability that creates eyelid asymmetry, these processes may underlie changes in blinking associated with facial palsy and may play a role in the development of disorders that affect one side of the face, such as hemifacial spasm.
Kassem
Iris S
IS
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 117940-5230, USA.
Evinger
Craig
C
D000328:Adult; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D005143:Eyelids / Q000502:physiology*; D005152:Facial Muscles / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009801:Oculomotor Muscles / Q000502:physiology