Compensation of postural reactions to free-fall in the vestibular neurectomized monkey

Summary

In previous studies a contribution of vision to vestibular-dependent muscle responses during free-fall was found in the intact monkey, and the role of remaining labyrinthine afferents in compensation of these postural reactions was studied in vestibular neurectomized monkeys. In the present investigation we have compared the role of visual motion cues in the recovery of muscle responses to fall in unilateral (U.N.) and bilateral vestibular neurectomized (B.N.) baboons. During free-fall, electromyographic (EMG) responses were recorded from splenius capitis, soleus and tibialis anterior muscles. EMG activities were recorded in two randomly presented conditions: with normal motion of the visual world (NV) and with the visual world stabilized with respect to the baboon's head (SV) until 6 weeks after surgery.

In B.N. baboons, results showed that condition SV was accompanied by a very strong motor depression during the entire test period. A greater decrease was observed in the splenius and soleus muscles. In U.N. baboons, significantly depressed EMG responses were recorded in the SV condition during the first two stages of compensation only (0–2 weeks), in all tested muscles except the tibialis anterior muscle. On the other hand, these motor depressions appeared to depend upon the level of neuronal resting activity in the vestibular nuclei.

It is inferred that the partial recovery of muscle responses to fall observed in B.N. baboons in the NV condition is mainly due to visual information concerning motion, which replaces to the labyrinthine afferents. In U.N. baboons, the visual motion cues would fulfil only a transitory substitution function by supplying the decrease of neuronal activity in the vestibular nuclei. Later on, full compensation would be carried out by means of the remaining labyrinth.