DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.15520/ijmhs.2 014.vol4.iss4.17 The cerebellum plays a significant role in the maintenance of equilibrium and the coordination of head and eye movements. The cerebellum receives extensive information from visual, somesthetic, vestibular and auditory sensory systems, as well as from motor and nonmotor areas of the cerebral cortex. The cerebellum was more active during ind...

We studied the distribution of somatic motor neurons innervating the cat superior rectus 3-6 months after oculomotor nerve injury using intramuscular horseradish peroxidase (HRP). In normal cats, 98% or more of the labelled superior rectus motoneurons were in the contralateral oculomotor subnucleus. Two experimental cats who exhibited little or no evidence of recovery showed few labelled cells ...

PURPOSE High-resolution orbital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to investigate the structural basis of ocular motility abnormalities in humans with congenital fibrosis of the extraocular muscles type 1 (CFEOM1) due to missense mutations in the developmental kinesin KIF21A. METHODS Clinical ophthalmic and motility findings in 19 volunteers from six unrelated CFEOM1 pedigrees harborin...

The potential role of sensory feedback from human extraocular muscles has been subjected to considerable speculation in the ophthalmic literature. Extraocular muscles pull against a fairly even load and do not initiate a stretch reflex, even when the eyes are directed toward the boundaries of their respective field of action. These unique working conditions and physiological properties have led...

Cerebellar processing of incoming information begins at the synapse between mossy fibers and granule cells, a synapse that is strongly controlled through Golgi cell inhibition. Thus, Golgi cells are uniquely positioned to control the flow of information into the cerebellar cortex and understanding their responses during behavior is essential to understanding cerebellar function. Here we show, f...

The 4 payload crew members of the Spacelab Life Sciences 9-day space flight in 1991 were subjected to limited vestibular testing in flight as well as pre and post flight. Major differences in individual "perceptual style" appeared in their reaction to the visual-vestibular stimuli in the rotating dome experiment, and especially in the extent to which nondirectional tactile cues served to anchor...

A 54-year-old white man presented with slowly progressive incoordination and weakness. He had normal motor development until, at 16 years of age, he noted difficulty walking and difficulty reading despite normal visual acuity. By the fourth decade of life, he developed poor coordination and balance, as well as inability to walk. In subsequent years, he developed progressive, painless sensory lo...

BACKGROUND The neuropathological process underlying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can be traced as a four-stage progression scheme of sequential corticofugal axonal spread. The examination of eye movement control gains deep insights into brain network pathology and provides the opportunity to detect both disturbance of the brainstem oculomotor circuitry as well as executive deficits of oc...

The cerebellum influences behavior and cognition exclusively via Purkinje cell synapses onto neurons in the deep cerebellar and vestibular nuclei. In contrast with the rich information available about the organization of the cerebellar cortex and its synaptic inputs, relatively little is known about microcircuitry postsynaptic to Purkinje cells. Here we examined the cell types and microcircuits...