Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The effect of a long stay under microgravity on the vestibular function and tracking eye movements

  • Published:
Human Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Pre-and postflight examinations of cosmonauts participating in missions ISS-3 to ISS-9 on the International Space Station were performed using a computer-aided method of integrated assessment of the oculomotor system. The role and significance of the vestibular system in the eye tracking were determined; the individual and general characteristics of spontaneous oculomotor reactions and oculomotor reactions induced by visual and vestibular stimuli after a long-term stay at zero gravity (126–195 days) were determined; and the changes in the indices of oculomotor reactions were monitored. Studies of the vestibular function, intersensory interactions, and the tracking function of the eyes in the crew members were performed on the second, fifth (sixth), and ninth (tenth) days of the readaptation period. The results of the postflight examinations showed a significant change in the accuracy, velocity, and temporal characteristics of eye tracking and an increase in the vestibular reactivity. It was shown that the structure of visual tracking (the accuracy of fixational eye rotations and smooth tracking) was disturbed (the appearance of correcting saccades, the transition of smooth tracking to saccadic tracking) only in those cosmonauts who, in parallel to an increased reactivity of the vestibular input, also had central changes in the oculomotor system (spontaneous nystagmus, gaze nystagmus). With one exception, recovery of the indices of the accuracy of tracking eye movements in cosmonauts to the background level in the selected period of examination was not observed, although a positive trend was recorded.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Mit’kin, A.A., Modern Problems of the Visual-Vestibular Interaction, Usp. Fiziol. Nauk, 1982, vol. 13, no. 3, p. 56.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Raines, V.S., Neurophysiological Mechansms of the Interaction of the Vestibular System with Other Sensory Systems, Kosm. Biol. Aviokosm. Med., 1974, vol. 8, no. 5, p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Buttner, U. and Buttner-Ennever, J., Present Concepts of Oculomotor Organization, in Neuroanatomy of the Oculomotor System, Buttner-Ennever, J., Ed., New York: Elsevier, 1988, pp. 3–23, 119–176.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Hofstetter-Degen, K., Wetzig, J. and Baumgarten, R., Oculovestibular Interaction under Microgravity, Clinik Investigator., 1993, vol. 71, p. 749.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Leigh, R. and Zee, D.S., The Neurology of Eye Movements, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 90–186, 407–478, 550.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Kornilova, L.N., Bodo, G., Grgorova, V., and Chernobyl’skii, L.M., Neurophysiological Regularities of Adaptation of the Vestibular System to Conditions of Microgravity, Aviokosm. Ekol. Med., 1993, vol. 3, no. 3, p. 219.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kornilova, L.N., Grigorova V., and Bodo, G., Vestibular Function and Sensory Interaction in Space Flight, Vestib. Res., 1993, vol. 3, no. 3, p. 219.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kornilova, L.N., Vestibular Function and Sensory Interaction under the Condition of Altered Gravity, Adv. Space Biol. Med., 1997, vol. 6, no. 12, p. 257.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Kornilova, L.N., Muller, H., West, G., et al., Spontaneous and Visually-Induced Oculomotor Reactions at Zero Gravity (According to the Data of the Optovert Experiment), Aviokosm. Ekol. Med., 1996, vol. 30, no. 6, p. 30.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kornilova, L.N., The Tracking Eye Function under Microgravity and Readaptation to Earth’s Gravitation, Aviokosm. Ekol. Med., 2001, vol. 35, no. 6, p. 30.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Reschke, M., Kozlovskaya, I.B., Somers, J., et al., Smooth Pursuit Deficits in Space Flights of Variable Length, J. Gravitat. Physiol., 2002, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 133.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kornilova, L.N., Solov’eva, A.D., Sarantseva, A.V., et al., Computer Tests to Study Oculomotor Reactions in Patients Complaining of Dizziness, Zh. Nevrol. Psikhiatr. im. S.S. Korsakova, 2004, no. 5, p. 34.

  13. Kornilova, L.N., Yakovleva, I.Ya, and Bodo, G., Patent 1454374, 1994.

  14. Dix, M. and Hood, J., Vertigo, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  15. No, de L., Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Arc, Arch. Neurol., 1933, vol. 30, no. 2, p. 245.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ulrich, H., Die Function der Otolithen, gepruft durch directe mechanische beeinflussung der Utriculusototolithen am lebenden Hecht, Pflugers Arch., 1935, Vol. 235, no. 4, pp. 545–553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Szentagothai, J., A Midbrain Inhibitory Mechanisms of Oculomotor Activity, Acta Physiol. Acad. Sci. Hung., 1956, vol. 9, nos. 1–3, p. 89.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 123007, Russia

    L. N. Kornilova, M. I. Alekhina, V. V. Temnikova, S. V. Sagalovich, S. V. Malakhov, I. A. Naumov & I. B. Kozlovskaya

  2. NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Pkwy., Houston, TX, 77058, USA

    M. Reshke

  3. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Moscow, Russia

    A. V. Vasin

Authors
  1. L. N. Kornilova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. I. Alekhina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. V. V. Temnikova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M. Reshke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. S. V. Sagalovich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. S. V. Malakhov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. I. A. Naumov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. I. B. Kozlovskaya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. A. V. Vasin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Original Russian Text © L.N. Kornilova, M.I. Alekhina, V.V. Temnikova, M. Reshke, S.V. Sagalovich, S.V. Malakhov, I.A. Naumov, I.B. Kozlovskaya, A.V. Vasin, 2006, published in Fiziologiya Cheloveka, 2006, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 56–64.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kornilova, L.N., Alekhina, M.I., Temnikova, V.V. et al. The effect of a long stay under microgravity on the vestibular function and tracking eye movements. Hum Physiol 32, 547–555 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119706050082

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119706050082

Keywords

Search

Navigation