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Vestibular-related eye movements in the rat following selective electrical stimulation of the vestibular sensors

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Abstract

Rats are the most commonly used species in the neurosciences; however, little is known about the effects of selective electrical stimulation of individual vestibular sensors, on their eye movements. This limits their use to study the effects of vestibular stimulation on the brain, and their use in further exploring novel technologies such as artificial vestibular implants. We describe the effects of electrical stimulation of each vestibular sensor on vestibular-related eye movement in rats and compared the results to other species. We demonstrated that each sensor is responsible for specific bilateral eye movements. We found that the eye movements in rats differed from other species. Although the results were similar when stimulating the horizontal canal ampulla, differences appeared when stimulating the vertical canal sensors. During utricular stimulation, the ipsilateral eye moved dorsally in most cases, while the contralateral eye usually moved either caudally, or in extorsion. Saccular stimulation usually moved the ipsilateral eye dorsally or ventrally, while the contralateral eye usually moved ventrally or caudally. This study provides the first data on the application of selective electrical vestibular stimulation in the rat to the study of vestibular-related eye movements.

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Abbreviations

AA:

Anterior canal ampulla

eVOR:

Electrically evoked vestibulo-ocular reflex

HA:

Horizontal canal ampulla

PA:

Posterior canal ampulla

SCCs:

Semi-circular canals

SO:

Superior oblique

VOR:

Vestibulo-ocular reflex

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/ under REA Grant agreement no. 318980, a grant from Region Basse Normandie, CNES, and the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund (to PFS and YZ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, CHU de Caen, Caen, France

    Martin Hitier

  2. Department of Anatomy, UNICAEN, Normadie University, 14032, Caen, France

    Martin Hitier

  3. UNICAEN, University of Normandy, INSERM U1075, CHU de Caen, Caen, France

    Martin Hitier & Stephane Besnard

  4. Department of Otolaryngology, University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Tokushima, Japan

    Go Sato

  5. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Biomedical Sciences and Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Martin Hitier, Yiwen Zheng & Paul F. Smith

  6. Brain Research New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence, Auckland, New Zealand

    Yiwen Zheng & Paul F. Smith

  7. Eisdell Moore Centre for Hearing and Balance Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Yiwen Zheng & Paul F. Smith

  8. Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Yan-Feng Zhang

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  1. Martin Hitier
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Correspondence to Paul F. Smith.

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All of the research reported in this paper was conducted in accordance with the Regulations of the University of Otago Committee on Ethics in the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the procedures were approved by that Committee (55/12).

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Hitier, M., Sato, G., Zhang, YF. et al. Vestibular-related eye movements in the rat following selective electrical stimulation of the vestibular sensors. J Comp Physiol A 204, 835–847 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-018-1286-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-018-1286-9

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