Eye movements in vertebrates are controlled by six extraocular muscles innervated by three of the cranial nerves – the oculomotor, trochlear and abducens. Incorrect development of this wiring network can lead to eye movement disorders, such as the congenital condition Duane retraction syndrome (DRS), which results in squint (strabismus). In DRS patients, the abducens nerve is often absent, and ...

The paradigm that an "underacting" extraocular muscle is always atrophic or hypoplastic and that an overacting extraocular muscle should always be enlarged leads to inconsistencies with clinical observations. These include findings of "overacting" inferior oblique muscles, superior rectus muscle overaction or contracture syndrome, and normal extraocular muscle diameters in patients with apparen...

Binocular vision requires intricate control of eye movement to align overlapping visual fields for fusion in the visual cortex, and each eye is controlled by 6 extraocular muscles (EOMs). Disorders of EOMs are an important cause of symptomatic vision loss. Importantly, EOMs represent specialized skeletal muscles with distinct gene expression profile and susceptibility to neuromuscular disorders...

Total rupture of extraocular muscles is an infrequent clinical finding. Here we conducted this retrospective study to evaluate their causes of injury, clinical features, imaging, surgical management, and final outcomes in cases of isolated extraocular muscle rupture at a tertiary center in China. Thirty-six patients were identified (24 men and 12 women). Mean age was 34 years (range 2-60). The ...

The capillaries of overacting inferior oblique muscles from children with strabismus and of dog inferior oblique muscles were ultrastructurally described. Biopsy material was used in all instances. The mean diameter of the capillary lumen was 2.03 microns for the human inferior oblique and 2.76 microns for the dog inferior oblique. Quantitative estimates of capillary basement membrane width wer...

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Although the extraocular muscles contain stretch receptors it is generally believed that their afferents exert no influence on the control of eye movement. However, we have shown previously that these afferent signals reach various brainstem centres concerned with eye movement, notably the vestibular nuclei, and that the decerebrate pigeon is a favourable preparation in which to study their eff...

The interdependence of the development of the eye and oculomotor system during embryogenesis is currently unclear. The occurrence of clinical anophthalmia, where the globe fails to develop, permits us to study the effects this has on the development of the complex neuromuscular system controlling eye movements. In this study, we use very high-resolution T2-weighted imaging in five anophthalmic ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW The oculomotor periphery was classically regarded as a simple mechanism executing complex behaviors specified explicitly by neural commands. A competing view has emerged that many important aspects of ocular motility are properties of the extraocular muscles and their associated connective tissue pulleys. This review considers current concepts regarding aspects of ocular motil...

We describe a patient with Noonan syndrome who presented with Human Leukocyte Antigen B27-associated recurrent acute anterior uveitis and manifestations of congenital fibrosis of the extraocular muscles, which has not been reported before.